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Seven heirs of a Jewish banker whose art collection was seized by the Nazis are seeking to overturn the £1.2 million sale of a Camille Pissarro painting they say was looted during the Holocaust.
The descendants of Salomon Flavian have taken their case to a Paris court over Darse de pê et bassin Duquesne, Dieppe, a 1902 painting of the French port town.
The work was sold by Sotheby’s in London in June 2024 after an agreement was reached involving its owner and members of Flavian’s family.
But seven other heirs say they were never consulted about the settlement and are now asking for the agreement behind the sale to be annulled, according to The Art Newspaper.
Flavian, a Jewish banker and art collector living in Paris, owned the Pissarro during the 1930s. His collection was looted by the Nazis in 1941.
The painting was subsequently included in a French government register of looted property published after the war, although whether this particular work was actually among those seized from Flavian is now disputed.
Sotheby’s catalogue acknowledged the painting’s history and said it was being offered for sale “pursuant to a settlement between the current owner and heirs of Salomon Flavian”.
According to court documents reported by The Art Newspaper, however, that agreement was signed by just two heirs, Gilles and Nicholas Flavian, who waived their rights to the painting.
Other family members were informed months later that an eight percent share of the net sale price had been accepted on their behalf, the report said.
Mondex Corporation, a firm specialising in recovering assets lost during the Holocaust, disputes the seven heirs’ account of the painting’s wartime history.
Its lawyer told the court that research concluded that Pissarro was not among 45 works from Flavian’s collection recorded as having been seized in 1941 and may instead have been sold to a British collector before the war.
The heirs’ lawyer challenged that claim, arguing that incomplete Nazi records mean the painting could still have been looted.
Sotheby’s has also questioned whether the French court has jurisdiction because the action took place in London between clients with, its lawyer said, “no relationship with France”.
The Paris court is expected to deliver its ruling on 5 November.
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