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The heirs of a Jewish pair have brought a case against The Met, asserting that a Vincent van Gogh art piece was looted by the Nazis.

Historical Background

According to the court documents, the Stern couple acquired the painting, titled Olive Picking, in the mid-1930s. A year after, they were compelled to leave their residence in Munich, Germany prior to World War II.

The complaint contends that the Met, which purchased the masterpiece in the mid-1950s for a significant sum, should have known it was probably confiscated property. The family are now requesting the restitution of the painting along with financial restitution.

In the decades since World War II, this Nazi-looted painting has been frequently and covertly traded, purchased and sold in and through NYC, alleges the court document.

Family's Flight

The Sterns fled from Munich to the United States in 1936 with their large family due to the oppressive Nazi regime. However, they were prevented from taking the Van Gogh piece, which was created by the celebrated artist in 1889.

Prior to their departure, the regime declared the masterpiece as property of the state and banned the couple from bringing it with them. After obtaining permission from a Third Reich agent, a representative appointed by the authorities disposed of the artwork on the Sterns' behalf. Yet, the money from the sale were placed in a frozen account, which the authorities later seized.

Subsequent Ownership

Around 1948, or not long after, the painting arrived in the United States and was purchased by a wealthy American, one of America's wealthiest people. Eventually, it was exchanged through a gallery to the Met, which then passed it on to prominent shipowner Goulandris and his spouse, Mrs. Goulandris, in the early 1970s.

The Goulandris pair established the Goulandris Foundation in the late 1970s, which operates a museum in Athens where the masterpiece is currently on display.

Legal Arguments

The foundation and a family member of Goulandris are identified in the suit. The lawsuit claims that the family and its affiliates have hidden and obscured the painting's ownership and current place from the plaintiffs.

Currently, the foundation continue to obscure the circumstances the institution came into possession of the piece; the family's possession of the masterpiece from 1935 to 1938; and the reality that the Third Reich confiscated the canvas from the heirs, forced the family into selling it via a trustee, and confiscated the funds of the deal.

Prior Cases

The family filed a comparable case in the state of California in 2022, but it was rejected in the following years. An legal challenge was also denied in spring 2025.

The Met's Position

The lawsuit states that the institution's buying of the artwork was sanctioned by Theodore Rousseau Jr, the Met's authority of European art and one of the world's foremost experts on Nazi art looting. The curator and the museum must have known that the artwork had likely been stolen by the Nazis.

The institution issued a statement that it prioritizes its longstanding commitment to address claims from the Nazi period.

A spokesperson commented: Not once during The Met's ownership of the artwork was there any documentation that it had previously been owned to the Stern family – actually, that data did not become accessible until several decades after the painting left the Met's possession.

The institution's deaccessioning of the Van Gogh met the institution's rigorous standards for disposal – namely, it was recorded that the work was judged to be of lesser quality than other works of the similar kind in the inventory. While The Met respectfully stands by its position that this artwork entered the collection and was deaccessioned properly and well within all rules and regulations, the institution invites and will examine any new information that emerges.

BEG's Response

William Charron representing the Goulandris Foundation said: The Goulandris Foundation is a highly prestigious organization in Athens. The action to take legal action against the Foundation and the Goulandris family in the United States upon inaccurate and partial claims was earlier rejected, multiple times. We are confident it will be again.