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The descendants of a Jewish spouses have brought a case against New York's Metropolitan Museum, asserting that a Vincent van Gogh art piece was stolen by the Nazis.

Origins of the Dispute

According to the lawsuit, Hedwig and Frederick Stern bought the painting, titled Gathering Olives, in 1935. Just one year later, they were obliged to escape their residence in Munich just before WWII.

The complaint contends that the institution, which obtained the painting in 1956 for one hundred twenty-five thousand dollars, should have known it was almost certainly confiscated property. The family are now seeking the restitution of the artwork along with compensation.

In the decades since the war, this Nazi-looted painting has been repeatedly and secretly trafficked, bought and sold in and through New York, claims the lawsuit.

Forced Emigration

The Sterns escaped from the city of Munich to California in 1936 with their six children due to Nazi persecution. Yet, they were barred from transporting the Van Gogh piece, which was produced by the Dutch post-impressionist in 1889.

Prior to their departure, the regime declared the masterpiece as a German cultural asset and prohibited the couple from bringing it with them. After obtaining permission from a Third Reich agent, a trustee designated by the regime disposed of the painting on the couple's behalf. Yet, the funds from the sale were held in a blocked account, which the authorities later seized.

Later Transactions

By 1948, or soon after, the painting entered New York and was bought by a prominent figure, among the richest individuals in the US. Eventually, it was transferred through a art dealer to the museum, which then passed it on to Greek shipping magnate the magnate and his spouse, Elise Goulandris, in the early 1970s.

The Goulandris pair founded the Goulandris Foundation in the late 1970s, which manages a museum in Athens, Greece where the artwork is currently on display.

Court Allegations

BEG and a surviving nephew of Basil Goulandris are listed as respondents. The legal action states that the Goulandris family and its affiliates have concealed and disguised the painting's ownership and location from the plaintiffs.

Even now, the foundation continue to conceal how and when the BEG came into control of the piece; the Stern family's ownership of the Painting from several years; and the facts that the Nazis looted the canvas from the family, forced the family into parting with it via a regime representative, and confiscated the money of the deal.

Previous Legal Action

The family submitted a related lawsuit in the state of California in recently, but it was thrown out in 2024. An further action was also rejected in spring 2025.

The Met's Position

The lawsuit contends that the Met's purchase of the artwork was sanctioned by a curator, the museum's curator of European paintings and one of the world's foremost experts on art theft during the Nazi era. The institution and its expert must have known that the artwork had probably been stolen by the regime.

The museum issued a statement that it is committed to its longstanding commitment to resolve claims from the Nazi period.

An official stated: Never during The Met's ownership of the artwork was there any documentation that it had previously been owned to the family – in fact, that data did not become accessible until a long time after the masterpiece left the Met's possession.

The museum's disposal of the artwork met the museum's strict criteria for removal from collection – specifically, it was recorded that the artwork was deemed to be of inferior standard than other works of the comparable nature in the collection. Even though The Met maintains its stance that this piece entered the holdings and was sold lawfully and well within all guidelines and policies, the institution welcomes and will consider any further evidence that is discovered.

BEG's Response

Legal counsel on behalf of BEG commented: The Goulandris Foundation is a highly prestigious organization in Greece. The attempt to take legal action against the institution and the family in the United States upon deceptive and insufficient accusations was already thrown out, multiple times. We are confident it will be a third time.