New York's Met Museum Responds to Legal Action Over Allegedly Nazi-Looted Van Gogh Masterpiece

The descendants of a Jewish pair have filed a lawsuit against The Met, claiming that a the Dutch artist oil painting was looted by Nazi forces.

Origins of the Dispute

Per the legal filing, Hedwig and Frederick Stern purchased the artwork, titled Gathering Olives, in the year 1935. A year after, they were compelled to leave their dwelling in the German city of Munich on the eve of the Second World War.

The suit contends that the museum, which purchased the painting in the mid-1950s for one hundred twenty-five thousand dollars, ought to have been aware it was almost certainly stolen property. The family are now demanding the restitution of the painting along with compensation.

In the decades since the war, this plundered piece has been often and discreetly exchanged, purchased and sold in and through New York, claims the court document.

The Sterns' Escape

The Stern family escaped from their Munich home to the United States in 1936 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 the family's emigration, Nazi authorities declared the masterpiece as German cultural property and prohibited the Sterns from taking it abroad. After obtaining permission from a Third Reich agent, a trustee appointed by the Nazis sold the piece on the Sterns' behalf. Yet, the proceeds from the sale were deposited in a blocked account, which the regime later confiscated.

Post-War History

Around 1948, or not long after, the artwork arrived in New York and was acquired by a prominent figure, one of America's wealthiest people. Subsequently, it was transferred through a commercial outlet to the museum, which then sold it to wealthy Greek businessman the magnate and his partner, Elise, in the early 1970s.

The Goulandris pair set up the Basil & Elise Goulandris Foundation in 1979, which operates a institution in Athens where the artwork is currently shown.

Legal Arguments

The foundation and a surviving nephew of Goulandris are identified in the suit. The filing alleges that the family and its affiliates have hidden and obscured the painting's ownership and location from the plaintiffs.

To this day, the foundation continue to conceal how and when the institution came into possession of the artwork; the family's possession of the artwork from several years; and the reality that the regime stole the artwork from the heirs, forced the couple into disposing of it via a regime representative, and took the money of the deal.

Prior Cases

The family initiated a comparable case in CA in recently, but it was rejected in 2024. An appeal was also dismissed in recently.

Institution's Statement

The legal action argues that the Met's purchase of the artwork was authorized by Theodore Rousseau Jr, the museum's curator of European art and one of the world's foremost experts on art theft during the Nazi era. The curator and the museum must have known that the masterpiece had almost certainly been stolen by the Nazis.

The Met responded that it prioritizes its ongoing pledge to handle Nazi-era claims.

An official commented: At no time during the institution's custody of the artwork was there any evidence that it had once belonged to the family – in fact, that knowledge did not become known until a long time after the painting left the Met's possession.

The museum's disposal of Olive Picking met the institution's rigorous standards for disposal – specifically, it was recorded that the artwork was deemed to be of inferior standard than additional artworks of the comparable nature in the holdings. Although the museum upholds its view that this piece entered the collection and was deaccessioned properly and well within all rules and regulations, the institution welcomes and will consider any additional details that comes to light.

Foundation's Defense

A lawyer acting for the foundation stated: The Goulandris Foundation is a esteemed foundation in the Greek capital. The action to take legal action against the organization and the Goulandris family in the US upon misleadingly incomplete allegations was already thrown out, twice. We are certain it will be once more.