Nazi Looted Pissarro makes U.S. Supreme Court Debate

Kimberly Babin

Recently the U.S. Supreme Court heard oral arguments regarding the disputed ownership of a work of Danish French Impressionist, Camille Pissarro titled Rue Saint-Honore, dans l'après-midi. Effet de pluie ("Rue Saint-Honore in the Afternoon. Effect of Rain").

The 1897 oil painting was once owned by Lilly Cassirer Neubauer, a Jewish woman, who fled Nazi Germany in 1939. The painting was looted by Nazis, resulting eventually in a $13,00 settlement from Germany to the original owner. The painting resurfaced years later in the U.S. and was sold to Spain by the collector Baron Hans Heinrich Thyssen-Bornemisza as part of a $338 million-dollar transaction which included numerous other art works. The transaction helped to create the body of work for Museo Nacional Thyssen-Bornemisza.

Neubauer's descendent and grandson noticed the looted work at the museum in 2001. Despite his call for the painting's return, the artwork remained in the museums hands as under Spanish Law, the work was now considered the Museum's property, legally. However, California law asserts that once an item is stollen, it remains stollen unitil returned and cannot legally be passed to other owners, even if purchased in good faith. The question at hand is if the Supreme Court will find that the case should be heard under California law, or if the case and the painting will remain in Spain.