Japan firm defends Van Gogh ownership after lawsuit / Photo: JIJI PRESS - JIJI PRESS/AFP/File
-
Defending Rome champion Zverev blames burn out on poor run of form
-
No signs of US recession, Treasury Secretary says
-
Israel pummels Yemen airport in reprisal against Huthis
-
Swiatek struggling with 'perfectionism' ahead of Rome
-
Germany's Merz elected chancellor after surprise setback
-
Ukraine fires drones on Moscow days before WWII parade
-
EU proposes ending all Russian gas imports by 2027
-
UK, India strike trade deal amid US tariff blitz
-
Move over Met Ball. For fashion wow head to the Vatican
-
Stocks retreat as traders cautious before Fed rates call
-
EDF complaint blocks Czech-Korean nuclear deal
-
Germany's Merz faces new vote for chancellor after surprise loss
-
US trade deficit hit fresh record before new Trump tariffs
-
US Fed starts rate meeting under cloud of tariff uncertainty
-
Trump's Aberdeen course to host revived Scottish Championship
-
Argentina's 1978 World Cup winner Galvan dies
-
French lawmakers want Dreyfus promoted 130 years after scandal
-
AFP Gaza photographers shortlisted for Pulitzer Prize
-
Cristiano Ronaldo's eldest son called up by Portugal Under-15s
-
Stocks diverge as traders await Fed rates meeting
-
Tesla sales fall again in Germany as drivers steer clear of Musk
-
Radiohead's Jonny Greenwood says shows cancelled after 'credible threats'
-
Hamas says Gaza truce talks pointless as Israel wages 'hunger war'
-
Aussie cycling star Ewan announces shock retirement
-
Blow for Germany's Merz as he loses first-round vote for chancellor
-
EU to lay out plan to cut last Russian gas supplies
-
Food delivery app DoorDash agrees to buy peer Deliveroo
-
Zhao's world championship win will take snooker to 'another level': sport's chief
-
Ukraine fires drones on Moscow days before Red Square parade
-
Blow for Merz as he misses majority in first vote for chancellor
-
Putin gears up for 'grandest' Victory Day amid Ukraine conflict
-
Cardinals to move into Vatican on eve of conclave
-
Romania names interim premier as turmoil deepens
-
DoorDash agrees £2.9 billion takeover of Deliveroo
-
Dollar recovers some losses, stocks mixed as traders eye tariff deals
-
Hamas says no point in further Gaza truce talks
-
'Aussiewood' courts Hollywood as Trump film tariffs loom
-
How a privately owned city in Kenya took on corrupt officials
-
Ozempic slimming craze sweeps Kosovo despite side effects
-
Drone strikes rock Port Sudan in third day of attacks
-
US President Trump and Canada's Carney set for high-stakes meeting
-
Philips turns in a profit but China, tariffs weigh
-
Drones hit Port Sudan airport in third day of attacks
-
Australian mushroom murder suspect rejected help preparing meal: witness
-
Jokic-inspired Nuggets stun Thunder, Knicks down Celtics
-
India's woman fighter pilot trailblazer eyes space
-
'Shared dream': China celebrates Zhao's world snooker breakthrough
-
Wait for Vatican white smoke fires up social media
-
Sinner leading the charge in golden era for Italian tennis
-
Donnarumma stands tall on PSG's Champions League run
NYSE - LSE
| RBGPF | 4.89% | 66.24 | $ | |
| AZN | -1.14% | 71.275 | $ | |
| CMSC | 0.09% | 22.04 | $ | |
| GSK | 0.03% | 38.86 | $ | |
| RIO | 0.36% | 59.785 | $ | |
| SCS | -0.81% | 9.89 | $ | |
| BTI | 1.06% | 44.22 | $ | |
| NGG | 0.72% | 72.36 | $ | |
| BP | -2.39% | 28.5 | $ | |
| BCE | 2.28% | 21.89 | $ | |
| RYCEF | 0.29% | 10.45 | $ | |
| JRI | -0.12% | 13.035 | $ | |
| RELX | -0.23% | 54.915 | $ | |
| BCC | -7.79% | 85.79 | $ | |
| CMSD | -0.13% | 22.23 | $ | |
| VOD | 0.93% | 9.69 | $ |
Japan firm defends Van Gogh ownership after lawsuit
A Japanese company has defended its ownership of Van Gogh's "Sunflowers", obtained at auction in 1987, after the family of its former owner filed a US lawsuit demanding its return.
The artwork -- one of five original versions of the famous still life -- was purchased by the predecessor of insurance firm Sompo Holdings at Christie's in London for $40 million, making it briefly the world's most expensive painting.
It has been on display in Tokyo at Sompo's art museum for 35 years, but recently became the subject of a legal battle centred on a previous sale in Germany prior to World War II.
The family of the painting's former owner, Jewish banker Paul von Mendelsohn-Bartholdy, filed a lawsuit in Illinois last month demanding the return of the artwork and hundreds of millions of dollars in damages.
They say Sompo's predecessor, Yasuda Fire & Marine Insurance, acquired the painting "in reckless disregard of its provenance, including Mendelssohn-Bartholdy's forced sale of the painting in Nazi Germany in 1934".
"Sompo Holdings wrongfully has employed the Painting to reap billions of dollars of unjust enrichment through a sophisticated branding strategy," the lawsuit said.
"Defendants have commercially exploited as a corporate emblem what they long have all but known was a Nazi-tainted artwork."
But Sompo Holdings defended its ownership of the painting in a statement to AFP on Tuesday, saying it "categorically rejects the complaint's allegations of wrongdoing".
The company "intends to vigorously defend its ownership rights in 'Sunflowers'", Sompo added.
It is not the only artwork that the heirs want returned.
They have filed similar lawsuits elsewhere, and in 2020, the National Gallery of Art in Washington DC returned a Picasso drawing to the family.
At the height of Japan's bubble economy in the 1980s and 90s, rich business people rushed to buy paintings as investments.
Paper tycoon Ryoei Saito also bought a Van Gogh -- "Portrait of Dr Gachet" -- in 1990 for $82.5 million.
Saito famously sparked outrage when he said he would have his expensive canvases put in his coffin and cremated with him when he died. He later recanted.
A.Rodriguezv--AMWN