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The heirs of a Jewish couple have filed a lawsuit against The Metropolitan Museum of Art, alleging that a Van Gogh oil painting was looted by the Third Reich.

Historical Background

According to the legal filing, Hedwig and Frederick Stern purchased the painting, titled Olive Picking, in 1935. The following year, they were compelled to leave their residence in Munich, Germany on the eve of WWII.

The complaint states that the Met, which acquired the masterpiece in the 1950s for a significant sum, ought to have been aware it was likely stolen property. The family are now seeking the repatriation of the canvas along with financial restitution.

Since the end of the war, this Nazi-looted painting has been frequently and covertly traded, bought and sold in and through NYC, claims the legal filing.

Forced Emigration

The Sterns departed from their Munich home to America in 1936 with their large family due to persecution by the Nazis. However, they were prevented from taking the artwork, which was created by the Dutch post-impressionist in 1889.

Before the family's emigration, the Nazi government designated the artwork as a German cultural asset and banned the Sterns from bringing it with them. Once approved from a Third Reich agent, a trustee designated by the Nazis auctioned the artwork on the family's behalf. Yet, the proceeds from the sale were deposited in a frozen account, which the authorities later seized.

Later Transactions

By 1948, or soon after, the painting arrived in NYC and was bought by Vincent Astor, among the richest individuals in the US. Eventually, it was exchanged through a commercial outlet to the institution, which then sold it to Greek shipping magnate Basil Goulandris and his partner, Elise, in the early 1970s.

The Goulandris pair established the Basil & Elise Goulandris Foundation in 1979, which manages a museum in Athens, Greece where the masterpiece is currently shown.

Court Allegations

BEG and a family member of Basil Goulandris are named as defendants. The legal action claims that the family and its related entities have hidden and obscured the painting's ownership and current place from the heirs.

To this day, the defendants continue to obscure the circumstances the institution came into control of the artwork; the couple's ownership of the Painting from the mid-1930s; and the reality that the regime looted the Painting from the family, coerced the family into selling it via a trustee, and took the money of the deal.

Previous Legal Action

The family filed a related lawsuit in California in recently, but it was thrown out in the following years. An legal challenge was also denied in May 2025.

The Met's Position

The lawsuit contends that the museum's acquisition of the painting was approved by Theodore Rousseau Jr, the institution's specialist of European paintings and a leading authority on Nazi art looting. The institution and its expert must have known that the artwork had likely been seized by Nazis.

The Met responded that it is committed to its longstanding commitment to resolve issues related to WWII.

An official stated: Never during the museum's possession of the piece was there any documentation that it had previously been owned to the Stern family – actually, that data did not become known until several decades after the masterpiece left the institution's holdings.

The Met's sale of the Van Gogh met the institution's rigorous standards for deaccessioning – namely, it was documented that the piece was deemed to be of inferior standard than other pieces of the similar kind in the collection. While the institution respectfully stands by its stance that this work entered the holdings and was removed lawfully and well within all standards and procedures, the museum invites and will examine any additional details that emerges.

BEG's Response

William Charron representing the foundation stated: The Goulandris Foundation is a highly prestigious organization in Greece. The attempt to litigate and defame the organization and the defendants in the US upon misleadingly incomplete allegations was already thrown out, on two occasions. We are certain it will be a third time.