Heirs of German Jewish publisher Samuel Fischer have asked Sotheby’s to withdraw a Vincent van Gogh painting with a $180 million estimate from its upcoming New York auction, arguing that it was sold under duress amid Nazi persecution, The New York Times reported on Friday.
The U.S.-based heirs say “Châtaigniers en fleurs” (“Chestnut Trees in Blossom”), painted in 1890, was sold in Amsterdam in 1936 because of financial losses their family’s publishing company suffered under Nazi rule. Although the Netherlands was not then under Nazi control, the heirs argue that persecution in Germany forced the sale.
Jewish heirs are challenging the sale of a Van Gogh painting at Sotheby’s, claiming it was sold in 1936 under Nazi duress. The 1890 painting, “Châtaigniers en Fleurs (Blossoming Chestnut Trees),” carries an estimate of $180 million. https://t.co/aoaxEJQfwh
— Matthew Fraser 🇪🇺 (@frasermatthew) November 14, 2026
Sotheby’s said it had conducted extensive research into the painting’s ownership history and was in discussions with the family.
“While our research to date has not established that the painting was sold under duress, we recognize the importance of engaging thoughtfully and constructively with the family and are committed to working toward a mutually satisfactory resolution,” the auction house said. It did not say whether the scheduled Wednesday sale would proceed.
Fischer, whose publishing house’s authors included Thomas Mann and Hermann Hesse, acquired the painting in 1909. After his death in 1934, his son-in-law, Gottfried Bermann Fischer, took over the business. Under Nazi rule, many of its authors faced publishing bans. The company was split in two, and Bermann Fischer left Berlin for Vienna to continue publishing their work.
According to Gunnar Schnabel, the heirs’ Berlin lawyer, the painting was sold three months after the family’s departure. He said the family was forced to pay the “Reich flight tax” imposed on emigrants. Schnabel urged Sotheby’s to establish that the sale was at market value and would have taken place even without Nazi rule.
The painting, part of the privately held Blaquier-Arrieta collection, carries a financial guarantee from Sotheby’s. Its $180 million estimate exceeds Van Gogh’s auction record of $117.2 million, set at Christie’s in 2022, according to the Times.
In a separate restitution case, a French court ordered Sotheby’s to cancel the sale of a 1902 landscape by Camille Pissarro and return it to descendants of French Jewish banker Salomon Flavian, The Art Newspaper reported earlier this month. The court found that the painting was among the works seized from Flavian’s collection by the Nazis in 1941.
Sotheby’s auction listing said “Darse de pêche et bassin Duquesne” was offered under a settlement with Flavian’s heirs. However, lawyers for seven descendants said the agreement involved only two relatives and was reached without consulting the others, according to The Art Newspaper. Sotheby’s argued in court that the painting had been acquired by British collector Edward Le Bas in 1939, before the Nazi seizure, but the court rejected that account.
