The Jewish heirs of the previous owner demand that Van Gogh's painting be removed from the auction:
"In New York, Pierre-Auguste Renoir's painting "In a Canoe" and Vincent van Gogh's "Chestnut in Belvue" will be auctioned at Sotheby's. The auction house valued Renoir's painting at $25-35 million, while the value of Van Gogh's work is quoted only upon request. According to art market estimates, it can reach about 180 million dollars.
However, a controversy arose over "chestnut in Balalov". The heirs of the German publisher Samuel Fischer, who owned the painting in the first half of the 20th century, demanded that Sotheby's remove the painting from sale. According to them, the work could have been sold in 1936 under the pressure of the Nazis against the Jews. Sotheby's claims that it has not yet found evidence of a forced sale, but it is in dialogue with the heirs to find a solution."