The descendants of a Jewish pair have initiated legal proceedings against The Metropolitan Museum of Art, claiming that a Vincent van Gogh art piece was looted by Nazi forces.
According to the legal filing, the Stern couple purchased the painting, titled Olive Picking, in the mid-1930s. A year after, they were obliged to escape their residence in the German city of Munich on the eve of World War II.
The complaint states that the museum, which obtained the masterpiece in the mid-1950s for a significant sum, must have realized it was almost certainly looted property. The descendants are now demanding the repatriation of the painting along with compensation.
Since the end of the war, this plundered piece has been repeatedly and secretly trafficked, acquired and disposed of in and through New York, claims the legal filing.
The Sterns departed from the city of Munich to the United States in the late 1930s with their large family due to the oppressive Nazi regime. Nevertheless, they were prevented from taking the painting, which was created by the celebrated artist in the late 19th century.
Prior to their departure, Nazi authorities classified the masterpiece as German cultural property and banned the couple from exporting it. Following authorization from a regime representative, a representative appointed by the Nazis disposed of the piece on the couple's behalf. Yet, the money from the transaction were held in a restricted account, which the regime later seized.
In 1948, or soon after, the canvas arrived in New York and was bought by Vincent Astor, among the richest individuals in the US. Eventually, it was sold through a commercial outlet to the museum, which then sold it to Greek shipping magnate Goulandris and his partner, Elise, in 1972.
The Greek couple founded the Basil & Elise Goulandris Foundation in 1979, which manages a institution in the Greek capital where the painting is currently exhibited.
The institution and a surviving nephew of Basil Goulandris are listed as respondents. The filing states that the Goulandris family and its related entities have concealed and disguised the painting's ownership and whereabouts from the heirs.
To this day, the foundation continue to conceal the manner and time the BEG came into possession of the piece; the couple's ownership of the artwork from 1935 to 1938; and the truth that the regime stole the Painting from the heirs, coerced the Sterns into disposing of it via a regime representative, and took the proceeds of the transaction.
The descendants submitted a comparable case in CA in the year 2022, but it was rejected in 2024. An legal challenge was also denied in May 2025.
The complaint states that the Met's purchase of the artwork was sanctioned by the museum's expert, the museum's curator of Old Masters and one of the world's foremost experts on Nazi-era looted art. The curator and the museum were aware or ought to have been aware that the masterpiece had almost certainly been stolen by the regime.
The museum issued a statement that it is committed to its historical dedication to address claims from the Nazi period.
A representative stated: Never during the museum's possession of the artwork was there any documentation that it had previously been owned to the Stern family – in fact, that knowledge did not become available until many years after the painting left the Museum's collection.
The institution's deaccessioning of the Van Gogh met the Met's guidelines for disposal – specifically, it was noted that the artwork was considered to be of lesser quality than additional artworks of the similar kind in the inventory. Although the institution respectfully stands by its position that this piece entered the holdings and was removed legally and well within all standards and procedures, the museum welcomes and will consider any further evidence that comes to light.
William Charron representing the foundation commented: The institution is a esteemed foundation in the Greek capital. The effort to sue and smear the Foundation and the defendants in the America upon deceptive and insufficient accusations was earlier rejected, on two occasions. We are certain it will be once more.
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