How Munch’s friend hid a masterpiece in a barn to foil the Nazis

Owner's family to sell Dance on the Beach and split up to 20m with descendants of Jewish academic who had to sell it in 1934

A painting by Edvard Munch that lay hidden in a barn alongside a version of The Scream, to keep it out of the hands of German soldiers, is to be sold at auction and the proceeds split with the family of the Jewish man who was forced to sell it when fleeing the Nazis.

The monumental Dance on the Beach will be auctioned by Sotheby's in London on 1 March and is estimated to fetch around 12-20m.