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The heirs of a Jewish couple have initiated legal proceedings against New York's Metropolitan Museum, claiming that a the Dutch artist canvas was looted by the Nazis.

Origins of the Dispute

As stated in the lawsuit, Hedwig and Frederick Stern acquired the piece, titled Olive Harvest, in the year 1935. Just one year later, they were obliged to escape their home in Munich, Germany on the eve of WWII.

The suit states that the Met, which acquired the artwork in 1956 for one hundred twenty-five thousand dollars, should have known it was likely stolen property. The descendants are now requesting the return of the painting along with damages.

In the decades since World War II, this stolen artwork has been frequently and covertly traded, purchased and sold in and through NYC, claims the court document.

Family's Flight

The Sterns escaped from Munich to the United States in 1936 with their offspring due to persecution by the Nazis. However, they were barred from transporting the painting, which was created by the Dutch post-impressionist in the late 19th century.

Before the family's emigration, Nazi authorities designated the painting as German cultural property and forbade the Sterns from exporting it. Once approved from a Third Reich agent, a representative designated by the authorities disposed of the piece on the Sterns' behalf. Yet, the money from the transaction were held in a restricted account, which the authorities later took.

Later Transactions

Around 1948, or soon after, the canvas arrived in the United States and was bought by Vincent Astor, one of America's wealthiest people. Eventually, it was transferred through a commercial outlet to the museum, which then sold it to prominent shipowner the magnate and his partner, Elise, in 1972.

The Goulandris pair set up the Basil & Elise Goulandris Foundation in 1979, which runs a gallery in Athens where the artwork is currently exhibited.

Legal Arguments

BEG and a family member of Goulandris are listed as respondents. The legal action claims that the defendants and its associated organizations have concealed and disguised the artwork's provenance and whereabouts from the heirs.

Even now, the Goulandris Defendants continue to conceal the circumstances the institution came into ownership of the artwork; the couple's ownership of the artwork from the mid-1930s; and the truth that the Third Reich confiscated the Painting from the Stern family, coerced the Sterns into disposing of it via a regime representative, and confiscated the proceeds of the sale.

Prior Cases

The Stern heirs submitted a related lawsuit in California in recently, but it was dismissed in 2024. An appeal was also dismissed in May 2025.

Institution's Statement

The complaint contends that the Met's purchase of the piece was sanctioned by the museum's expert, the institution's specialist of European art and a leading authority on Nazi art looting. The institution and its expert must have known that the Painting had likely been stolen by Nazis.

The institution responded that it is committed to its ongoing pledge to handle issues related to WWII.

A representative stated: Not once during the museum's possession of the painting was there any record that it had once belonged to the 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 institution's rigorous standards for deaccessioning – specifically, it was recorded that the work was deemed to be of inferior standard than other pieces of the same type in the inventory. While the institution upholds its view that this piece entered the collection and was sold lawfully and well within all rules and regulations, the Met invites and will examine any additional details that emerges.

Goulandris Statement

A lawyer representing the Goulandris Foundation stated: BEG is a esteemed foundation in Greece. The attempt to litigate and defame the Foundation and the family in the United States upon misleadingly incomplete allegations was already thrown out, multiple times. We are certain it will be a third time.