The heirs of a Jewish couple have brought a case against New York's Metropolitan Museum, asserting that a the Dutch artist art piece was looted by the Nazis.
As stated in the legal filing, the Stern couple purchased the painting, titled Olive Harvest, in the year 1935. A year after, they were obliged to escape their home in Munich prior to WWII.
The legal action argues that the institution, which acquired the painting in the 1950s for one hundred twenty-five thousand dollars, ought to have been aware it was almost certainly stolen property. The descendants are now demanding the repatriation of the artwork along with damages.
Following World War II, this stolen artwork has been often and discreetly exchanged, purchased and sold in and through New York, states the lawsuit.
Hedwig and Frederick Stern departed from Munich to the United States in the late 1930s with their large family due to persecution by the Nazis. Yet, they were prevented from taking the Van Gogh piece, which was created by the renowned Dutch in 1889.
Before they left, the Nazi government designated the masterpiece as German cultural property and prohibited the Sterns from taking it abroad. Following authorization from a Third Reich agent, a trustee appointed by the authorities sold the artwork on the Sterns' behalf. However, the proceeds from the sale were placed in a blocked account, which the regime later seized.
In 1948, or soon after, the artwork arrived in the United States and was purchased by a prominent figure, a member of the Astor family. Eventually, it was sold through a gallery to the institution, which then transferred it to wealthy Greek businessman the magnate and his wife, Elise Goulandris, in the early 1970s.
The Greek couple set up the Basil & Elise Goulandris Foundation in 1979, which operates a institution in the Greek capital where the artwork is currently shown.
The foundation and a living relative of Goulandris are identified in the suit. The filing alleges that the defendants and its associated organizations have hidden and obscured the artwork's provenance and location from the plaintiffs.
Even now, the Goulandris Defendants continue to obscure the circumstances the institution came into possession of the Painting; the couple's ownership of the artwork from 1935 to 1938; and the truth that the Nazis confiscated the artwork from the family, pressured the Sterns into parting with it via a regime representative, and confiscated the proceeds of the sale.
The Stern heirs initiated a comparable case in the state of California in 2022, but it was rejected in 2024. An legal challenge was also denied in recently.
The complaint contends that the Met's purchase of the painting was approved by the museum's expert, the institution's specialist of European paintings and a leading authority on art theft during the Nazi era. The institution and its expert must have known that the artwork had probably been stolen by Nazis.
The museum issued a statement that it is committed to its longstanding commitment to resolve Nazi-era claims.
An official stated: Not once during the institution's custody of the artwork was there any evidence that it had once belonged to the family – actually, that data did not become accessible until a long time after the painting left the Met's possession.
The institution's deaccessioning of Olive Picking met the museum's strict criteria for disposal – namely, it was noted that the work was judged to be of lower caliber than other pieces of the comparable nature in the inventory. While the museum upholds its position that this work entered the holdings and was deaccessioned lawfully and well within all standards and procedures, the museum welcomes and will consider any additional details that comes to light.
William Charron representing BEG commented: The institution is a highly prestigious organization in the Greek capital. The action to take legal action against the organization and the family in the US upon deceptive and insufficient accusations was previously dismissed, twice. We are confident it will be once more.
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