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Heirs to a Jewish family trial Metropolitan Museum of Artclaiming a Vincent van Gogh The oil paintings it sold were looted from his relatives Nazis,
The lawsuit claims that Hedwig and Frederick Stern purchased the painting, Olive Picking, in 1935. That same year, the couple was forced to flee their home in Munich, and along with the painting they were never reunited.
The Met purchased the piece in 1956 for $125,000, and later sold it to a Greek shipping magnate in 1972. The lawsuit argues that the Met “knew, or should have known” that the painting was likely looted. Nazis,
Stern’s heirs are demanding the return of the painting as well as compensation for losses from the Met.
“In the decades following the end of World War II, this Nazi-looted painting was repeatedly and covertly trafficked, bought and sold in and through New York,” the lawsuit claims. new York Times,
The lawsuit claims Stern fled Munich to California with her six children but the Nazi regime prevented them from taking the artwork.
The heirs’ attorney said, “Prior to the family’s emigration, the Nazi government had declared the painting ‘German cultural property’ and prohibited Stern from bringing the painting (and others in his collection) with him abroad.”
He said, “After obtaining permission from a Nazi official, a ‘trustee’ appointed by the Nazis sold the painting in Germany on Stern’s behalf, but the proceeds of the sale were deposited into a ‘blocked account’ which the Nazis later confiscated.”
The painting is now on display in a museum in Athens, run by the Basil & Alice Goulandris Foundation. The Goulandris couple purchased the painting from the Met in 1972. The lawsuit names the foundation and a surviving nephew of Goulandris as defendants.
The lawsuit claims that the Goulandris family and its related entities have concealed and obscured the ownership and location of the painting from the plaintiffs.
The lawsuit states, “To this day, the Goulandis defendants are concealing when and how BEG came into possession of the painting; that the Stern family owned the painting from 1935 to 1938; and the fact that the Nazis looted the painting from the Stern family, forced Stern to sell it through a Nazi-appointed agent and confiscated the proceeds of the sale.”
The Stern heirs claim that since the Met had appointed Theodore Rosseau Jr., “one of the world’s foremost experts on Nazi art looting”, as curator of European paintings, it should have suspected that the paintings had been looted.
The Met has responded to the lawsuit, saying that it “takes seriously its long-term commitment to addressing Nazi-era claims.”
A museum spokesperson said, “At no time during the Met’s ownership of the painting was there any record that it had ever belonged to the Stern family – in fact, this information did not become available until several decades after the painting left the museum’s collection.”
In 2000, MAT began provenance research projectThe purpose of which was to evaluate the museum’s collection to determine whether any pieces acquired during the Nazi-era had been looted, and to return any such pieces to their rightful owners or heirs.
At least one painting by another famous artist – The Garden of Monet’s House at Argenteuil by Claude Monet – was returned as a result of the research project.
In its statement, the Met said it sold the painting because it was considered “of lower quality” than some other works of the time.
The statement further said, “The Met’s sale of Olive Picking met the museum’s strict criteria for deaccessioning – specifically, it was recorded that the work was considered to be of lower quality than other works of the same type in the collection.” “While the Met respectfully maintains its position that this work joined the collection and was deactivated legally and properly under all guidelines and policies, the Museum welcomes and will consider any new information that comes to light.”
The Stern heirs filed a similar complaint in 2022, but a California court dismissed the suit in 2024. Lawyers appealed the decision, but the case was dismissed again in May.
A lawyer representing the Golandris Foundation said the lawsuit was a baseless “blame” and would likely be tossed again.
“The Goulandris Foundation is a highly respected organization in Athens. Attempts to prosecute and defame the Foundation and the Goulandris family in the US on misleadingly incomplete charges have been rejected twice before,” the lawyer said. “We believe it will happen again.”
Independent The Met and the Goulandris Foundation have been requested to comment.