Stern heirs sue for return of van Gogh Olive Picking from Met

The heirs of a German Jewish couple have filed a federal suit in Manhattan seeking the return of a Vincent van Gogh painting they say was taken from their family by the Nazi regime and later sold by the Metropolitan Museum of Art. The complaint, filed Monday in U.S. District Court in Manhattan, names the Met and the Basil and Elise Goulandris Foundation of Athens and seeks the painting Olive Picking, painted in 1889, along with damages and legal fees.

The suit, brought by descendants of Hedwig and Frederick Stern and led by plaintiff Judith Anne Silver, alleges the Sterns bought Olive Picking in Munich in 1935 but were forced to flee Germany with their six children in 1936. According to the complaint, Nazi authorities declared the work German cultural property, prevented the family from taking it abroad, and had it sold in 1938 through a Nazi-appointed agent. The suit alleges the proceeds were placed in a blocked account and later confiscated by the Nazis.

The complaint traces the painting's postwar movements, saying it entered the United States and was purchased around 1948 by Vincent Astor. It alleges the work later reached the Metropolitan Museum, which purchased it in 1956...