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The heirs of a Jewish spouses have brought a case against The Met, claiming that a Van Gogh art piece was stolen by the Third Reich.

Historical Background

According to the lawsuit, Hedwig and Frederick Stern purchased the piece, titled Olive Picking, in the year 1935. Just one year later, they were obliged to escape their residence in the German city of Munich just before World War II.

The suit states that the Met, which purchased the artwork in the mid-1950s for a significant sum, ought to have been aware it was almost certainly confiscated property. The family are now demanding the restitution of the canvas along with financial restitution.

In the decades since WWII, this plundered piece has been frequently and covertly traded, purchased and sold in and through the city of New York, states the court document.

Forced Emigration

The Sterns fled from Munich to America in 1936 with their six children due to the oppressive Nazi regime. However, they were prevented from taking the painting, which was produced by the renowned Dutch in 1889.

Before they left, Nazi authorities designated the painting as property of the state and banned the couple from taking it abroad. After obtaining permission from a Nazi official, a representative designated by the regime auctioned the painting on the family's behalf. However, the funds from the transaction were deposited in a frozen account, which the Nazis later confiscated.

Later Transactions

By 1948, or shortly after, the painting entered NYC and was bought by a prominent figure, among the richest individuals in the US. Eventually, it was exchanged through a art dealer to the Met, which then sold it to wealthy Greek businessman the magnate and his wife, Elise Goulandris, in 1972.

The Greek couple established the Goulandris Foundation in the late 1970s, which runs a institution in Athens, Greece where the painting is currently on display.

Claims and Defenses

BEG and a family member of Goulandris are listed as respondents. The filing claims that the Goulandris family and its associated organizations have hidden and obscured the masterpiece's history and current place from the plaintiffs.

Currently, the foundation continue to conceal the manner and time the institution came into ownership of the Painting; the Stern family's ownership of the masterpiece from the mid-1930s; and the reality that the Third Reich confiscated the Painting from the family, forced the couple into parting with it via a Nazi-appointed agent, and seized the funds of the deal.

Prior Cases

The descendants submitted a comparable case in the state of California in 2022, but it was dismissed in 2024. An appeal was also dismissed in spring 2025.

The Met's Position

The legal action states that the Met's purchase of the piece was authorized by Theodore Rousseau Jr, the Met's authority of Old Masters and one of the world's foremost experts on Nazi-era looted art. The curator and the museum must have known that the artwork had likely been seized by the regime.

The institution said in a statement that it is committed to its ongoing pledge to handle issues related to WWII.

A spokesperson commented: Never during the museum's possession of the artwork was there any documentation that it had earlier been possessed to the heirs – actually, that knowledge did not become available until several decades after the painting left the Museum's collection.

The institution's deaccessioning of the Van Gogh met the institution's rigorous standards for removal from collection – namely, it was recorded that the work was deemed to be of lesser quality than additional artworks of the comparable nature in the collection. While the institution upholds its position that this artwork entered the inventory and was removed properly and well within all guidelines and policies, the museum is open to and will review any additional details that emerges.

Goulandris Statement

A lawyer acting for BEG stated: The institution is a esteemed foundation in Greece. The attempt to sue and smear the Foundation and the Goulandris family in the United States upon misleadingly incomplete allegations was earlier rejected, on two occasions. We are convinced it will be a third time.