Judge denies bid for Van Gogh

A family that claimed a Vincent van Gogh painting at a Detroit museum rightfully belonged to them since it was sold during the Nazi era lost their case because they waited too long to sue.

Graham Beal, director of the Detroit Institute of Arts, said it was a “tremendous relief” to know that the painting, called “Les Becheurs,” will be staying put.

Martha Nathan, a member of a notable banking family who emigrated from Germany to France in 1937 to escape Nazi persecution, sold the Van Gogh to a consortium of three Jewish art dealers in Paris in 1938 for $9,360. One of the dealers sold the picture for $34,000 in 1941 to Detroit art collector Robert Tannahill. He gave it to the Detroit Institute of Arts in 1969.

In 2004, Nathan’s relatives sought to claim the painting. But in an order released over the weekend, U.S. District Judge Denise Page Hood cited the expiration of Michigan’s statute of limitations and dismissed the claims.