Heiress Seeks Return of Cocteau Collection After Menton Museum Flood
In Menton on the French Riviera, Chloë Cassens is seeking to revoke her grandfather Severin Wunderman’s donation of roughly 1,800 artworks — about half by Jean Cocteau — after the museum built to display them was overwhelmed by a freak storm in 2018. Rudy Ricciotti’s glass‑walled building, placed on the shoreline with an open staircase to its basement archives, was shattered when seawater breached its walls.
Emergency crews retrieved hundreds of damaged works; years of careful restoration saved most pieces, but the museum remains closed while the city says it cannot begin reconstruction until it receives $3.5 million in insurance compensation.
France, Menton