TOKYO: A Japanese company has defended its ownership of Van Gogh’s “Sunflowers”, obtained at auction in 1987, after the family of its former owner filed a US lawsuit demanding its return.
The artwork – one of five original versions of the famous still life – was purchased by the predecessor of insurance firm Sompo Holdings at Christie’s in London for US$40 million, making it briefly the world’s most expensive painting.
It has been on display in Tokyo at Sompo’s art museum for 35 years, but recently became the subject of a legal battle centred on a previous sale in Germany prior to World War II.
The family of the painting’s former owner, Jewish banker Paul von Mendelsohn-Bartholdy, filed a lawsuit in Illinois last month demanding the return of the artwork and hundreds of millions of dollars in damages.
They say Sompo’s predecessor, Yasuda Fire & Marine Insurance, acquired the painting “in reckless disregard of its provenance, including Mendelssohn-Bartholdy’s forced sale of the painting in Nazi Germany in 1934”.
“Sompo Holdings wrongfully has employed the painting to reap billions of dollars of unjust enrichment through a sophisticated branding strategy,” the lawsuit said.
“Defendants have commercially exploited as a corporate emblem what they long have all but known was a Nazi-tainted artwork.”
But Sompo Holdings defended its ownership of the painting in a statement to AFP on Tuesday (Jan 17), saying it “categorically rejects the complaint’s allegations of wrongdoing”.
The company “intends to vigorously defend its ownership rights in ‘Sunflowers'”, Sompo added.
Source: CNA
