Masterpieces by Cezanne, Picasso and other major artists of the 19th and 20th centuries are going on sale in June, after disappearing during World War II and later being discovered in a Societe Generale vault. The collection, valued at about GBP 17 million (about $26 million), is set be sold by Sotheby's at auctions in London and Paris.

According to Sotheby's, the collection had been hastily deposited at Societe Generale in 1940 by Erich Slomovic, a Yugoslavian, before he fled Paris to escape the Nazis. Slomovic, who was Jewish, was killed by the Nazis in 1942, leaving the collection at the bank.