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The descendants of a Jewish couple have initiated legal proceedings against The Met, alleging that a Van Gogh art piece was seized by the Third Reich.

Origins of the Dispute

As stated in the court documents, the Stern couple purchased the piece, titled Olive Harvest, in the mid-1930s. A year after, they were forced to flee their residence in the German city of Munich just before the Second World War.

The legal action states that the institution, which obtained the masterpiece in the mid-1950s for $125,000, should have known it was almost certainly confiscated property. The descendants are now seeking the repatriation of the canvas along with financial restitution.

In the decades since WWII, this stolen artwork has been frequently and covertly traded, purchased and sold in and through the city of New York, claims the legal filing.

Family's Flight

The Sterns fled from the city of Munich to the United States in 1936 with their large family due to persecution by the Nazis. However, they were unable to bring the painting, which was painted by the celebrated artist in the late 19th century.

Prior to their departure, Nazi authorities designated the painting as property of the state and prohibited the couple from exporting it. After obtaining permission from a Nazi official, a agent designated by the regime disposed of the painting on the couple's behalf. But, the money from the auction were deposited in a restricted account, which the Nazis later confiscated.

Later Transactions

By 1948, or shortly after, the artwork was brought to New York and was bought by Vincent Astor, a member of the Astor family. Eventually, it was sold through a gallery to the institution, which then sold it to wealthy Greek businessman the magnate and his wife, Elise, in the early 1970s.

The Greek couple established the Basil & Elise Goulandris Foundation in 1979, which manages a museum in the Greek capital where the masterpiece is currently on display.

Court Allegations

The institution and a family member of Goulandris are named as defendants. The filing alleges that the Goulandris family and its associated organizations have covered up the painting's ownership and whereabouts from the family.

Even now, the defendants continue to conceal the manner and time the institution came into ownership of the artwork; the family's possession of the artwork from the mid-1930s; and the reality that the regime stole the artwork from the Stern family, forced the Sterns into selling it via a regime representative, and confiscated the proceeds of the transaction.

Prior Cases

The family filed a similar complaint in CA in the year 2022, but it was dismissed in 2024. An appeal was also dismissed in recently.

Institution's Statement

The complaint argues that the Met's purchase of the artwork was authorized by the museum's expert, the museum's curator of European paintings and a renowned specialist on art theft during the Nazi era. Rousseau and the Met must have known that the Painting had almost certainly been stolen by Nazis.

The institution responded that it prioritizes its longstanding commitment to handle Nazi-era claims.

An official commented: Never during the museum's possession of the piece was there any documentation that it had once belonged to the family – indeed, that knowledge did not become accessible until many years after the masterpiece left the Museum's collection.

The museum's disposal of Olive Picking met the Met's guidelines for disposal – specifically, it was documented that the artwork was deemed to be of inferior standard than other pieces of the same type in the holdings. Although The Met maintains its stance that this work entered the collection and was removed properly and well within all guidelines and policies, the museum invites and will examine any further evidence that emerges.

BEG's Response

William Charron representing BEG said: The institution is a renowned institution in the Greek capital. The action to take legal action against the Foundation and the defendants in the America upon misleadingly incomplete allegations was already thrown out, multiple times. We are confident it will be a third time.