Jewish Heirs Threaten to Block $180 Million Van Gogh Auction Over Nazi-Era Claims
Heirs of a Jewish owner demand Sotheby's halt the auction of an 1890 Van Gogh masterpiece estimated at $180 million, citing a forced Nazi-era sale in 1936.
Heirs of the former Jewish owner of a rare Vincent van Gogh painting are demanding that Sotheby's cancel an upcoming auction in Manhattan, citing Nazi-era persecution and a forced sale in 1936. The 1890 masterpiece, Blooming Chestnut Trees, carries an unprecedented pre-sale estimate of $180 million, which would shatter the artist's previous auction record.
Nazi Persecution and Forced Sale Claims
According to legal representatives for the heirs living in the USA, the work was sold in Amsterdam ahead of World War II following the financial collapse of the family's publishing house under the Nazi regime. Berlin-based attorney Gunnar Schnabel has called on Sotheby's restitution department to prove that the transaction occurred at fair market value and that the family would have sold it independently of Nazi coercion, warning that otherwise the auction cannot proceed.
The painting was originally acquired in 1909 by Samuel Fischer, founder of a prominent German publishing house representing authors such as Thomas Mann and Hermann Hesse. Following Fischer's death in 1934 and the rise of the Nazi regime, the family fled Berlin for Vienna, later depositing the painting in an Amsterdam gallery where it was sold in 1936 after paying the oppressive Reich flight tax.
Sotheby's stated that its extensive provenance research has not established that the work was sold under duress, though the auction house emphasized its commitment to constructive engagement with the family. The artwork, held by an Argentine collector family since 1975 and unseen by the public for over six decades, is slated to surpass Van Gogh's current record of $117.2 million set in 2022.
