HOARDER DIES IN HOME AFTER LIVING IN SECLUSION FOR 40 YEARS; ART HOARDER LEFT THOUSAND OF PAINTINGS[PHOTOS]

Hoarder dies in home at the age of 81 after living in seclusion for almost 40 years.

Cornelius Gurlitt, the German accused of hoarding about hundreds of artworks looted by the Nazis has died in his own apartment in Schwabing. He recently underwent heart surgery and has been ill for months. His collection of artworks including that of Picasso, Matisse and Chagall is extraordinary, but police say that the said artworks were looted.
Mr. Gurlitt, the hoarder, dies in his home after living away from the public's eyes for over 40 years. He lived in his apartment with his paintings and is not bothered by what's happening in the outside world. According to the reports, he's been living alone with no television and never accessed the internet.

He was under the scrutiny of authorities starting in 2010 particularly by the tax department when he was stopped crossing the Swiss border with 9,000 euros of cash. It was in 2012 that his art collection was discovered by the police when a raid was conducted in his home. The hoarder who dies in his home has been keeping thousands of artwork collection that was estimated at about 1,400.

Another raid was done in his second home in Salzburg, Austria, where in 60 more hoarded artworks were recovered. According to BBC news,entire artwork collection is estimated to be worth up to a billion euros (£850m; $1.35bn). Police believe that most of Gurlitt's collection was stolen from Jewish owners, but the hoarder, before he dies in his home, he previously claimed that his collections were inherited from his father who was an art dealer.

According to his interview with Spiegel magazine last November, he said that he will never give up his paintings. However, before he dies in his home earlier this year and after denying all the wrongdoing, Gurlitt agreed to return any paintings that belong to its rightful owners. Moreover, authority fears the security of his apartment after being too much publicized thus, the works are being held at a disclose location.