Family drops claim to two paintings

A family that claimed paintings by Vincent van Gogh and Paul Gauguin rightfully belonged to them because they were sold during the Nazi era have dropped their legal fight.

The heirs of Martha Nathan filed motions to dismiss their appeals challenging the ownership of Van Gogh’s “Les Becheurs,” which is owned by the Detroit Institute of Arts, and Gauguin’s “Street Scene in Tahiti,” housed at the Toledo Museum of Art in Ohio.

In 2004, descendants of Nathan’s siblings and in-laws approached both museums claiming the works had been sold under duress at a price less than fair market value. After researching the claims, the museums determined that Nathan, a member of a notable banking family who emigrated from Germany to France in 1937 to escape Nazi persecution, sold the paintings voluntarily and received payment in line with other sales at that time.