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The descendants of a Jewish pair have initiated legal proceedings against The Met, asserting that a Vincent van Gogh art piece was stolen by Nazi forces.

Origins of the Dispute

According to the lawsuit, the Stern couple purchased the artwork, titled Olive Picking, in 1935. A year after, they were forced to flee their dwelling in Munich, Germany on the eve of the Second World War.

The legal action states that the Met, which acquired the masterpiece in 1956 for $125,000, must have realized it was probably confiscated property. The heirs are now requesting the repatriation of the artwork along with damages.

Since the end of the war, this stolen artwork has been often and discreetly exchanged, acquired and disposed of in and through NYC, claims the court document.

Family's Flight

The Sterns fled from their Munich home to California in 1936 with their large family due to the oppressive Nazi regime. Yet, they were prevented from taking the Van Gogh piece, which was painted by the Dutch post-impressionist in 1889.

Prior to their departure, Nazi authorities designated the painting as German cultural property and prohibited the family from exporting it. After obtaining permission from a Nazi official, a trustee designated by the authorities auctioned the piece on the family's behalf. Yet, the proceeds from the sale were placed in a restricted account, which the Nazis later took.

Subsequent Ownership

In 1948, or shortly after, the painting was brought to the United States and was acquired by a wealthy American, a member of the Astor family. Later, it was exchanged through a gallery to the institution, which then passed it on to prominent shipowner Goulandris and his partner, Elise Goulandris, in 1972.

Basil and Elise established the Goulandris Foundation in 1979, which manages a museum in Athens, Greece where the painting is currently shown.

Legal Arguments

The foundation and a surviving nephew of Goulandris are named as defendants. The legal action claims that the defendants and its affiliates have hidden and obscured the painting's ownership and location from the plaintiffs.

Even now, the defendants continue to obscure the manner and time the BEG came into control of the Painting; the Stern family's ownership of the masterpiece from several years; and the truth that the Third Reich stole the artwork from the heirs, pressured the couple into disposing of it via a regime representative, and took the proceeds of the sale.

Previous Legal Action

The descendants submitted a comparable case in California in recently, but it was dismissed in the following years. An appeal was also denied in recently.

Museum's Response

The lawsuit argues that the institution's buying of the piece was authorized by the museum's expert, the Met's authority of European art and one of the world's foremost experts on art theft during the Nazi era. The institution and its expert were aware or ought to have been aware that the Painting had probably been seized by Nazis.

The museum responded that it is committed to its historical dedication to handle claims from the Nazi period.

A representative commented: Never during The Met's ownership of the painting was there any record that it had previously been owned to the heirs – in fact, that data did not become known until many years after the painting left the Museum's collection.

The Met's sale of the artwork met the museum's strict criteria for deaccessioning – namely, it was recorded that the piece was deemed to be of inferior standard than other pieces of the similar kind in the inventory. Even though the museum respectfully stands by its position that this piece entered the holdings and was deaccessioned lawfully and well within all guidelines and policies, the institution invites and will examine any additional details that is discovered.

Foundation's Defense

A lawyer acting for the foundation commented: The institution is a renowned institution in Greece. The attempt to sue and smear the organization and the defendants in the United States upon deceptive and insufficient accusations was earlier rejected, multiple times. We are convinced it will be again.