The descendants of Paul von Mendelssohn-Bartholdy, a German banker in Berlin who liquidated his large art collection to avoid Nazi retaliation, have sued the current owner of Vincent van Gogh's "Sunflowers" by Sompo Holding, a Japan-based insurance holding company, alleging it was aware It is quite true that the Sunflowers painting was sold under the pressure of “Nazi policies”, and it proceeded with the acquisition despite the historical context of its previous sale.
“Sumbo categorically rejects any allegation of wrongdoing and intends to vigorously defend its ownership rights to the Sunflower painting,” said a representative of Sumbo Sho Tanka, adding that Sumbo’s predecessor, Yasuda Fire & Marine Insurance Company, bought the Van Gogh painting from auction at Christie’s London. In 1987, and it has been more than 35 years since the Sumbo Museum of Fine Arts in Tokyo, Japan has proudly displayed Sunflowers.
Mendelssohn sold Bartholdi originally the sunflowers and other paintings from his collection in 1934, fearing that Nazi encroachment would make him a target, and he died the following year. His heirs' 98-page complaint notes that he "never intended to transfer any of his paintings, and was only forced to transfer them due to threats and economic pressures from the Nazi government."
Yasuda Fire & Marine bought the painting for $39.9 million (including fees) in 1987, setting a new record at the time for the most expensive work of art ever sold at auction. The painting was eventually exhibited permanently at the Tokyo Museum in Sumbo.
While the heirs acknowledge that Sompo Holdings did not "intentionally" exploit the circumstances of the painting's sale in 1934, they maintain that the painful origin of the circumstances of the sale of Sunflowers was "ignored".
The plaintiffs reside in Germany and New York state, but they filed their suit in federal court in Chicago over Sombo's business dealings there, asking the court to return the painting with $750 million in punitive damages.
Okaz (New York) @OKAZ_online
