Nazi route for $180 million: The heirs demand that the Van Gogh painting be removed from auction.
Descendants of the Jewish Fisher family demanded that Sotheby's auction house cancel the auction of the painting "Blooming Chestnut Trees" by the Dutch artist Vincent Van Gogh. The work was created in 1890. The cost of the fabric is estimated at 180 million dollars (14.9 billion rubles). According to the New York Times, this is the highest estimate for a Van Gogh painting ever offered at auction. The auction is scheduled for November 18.
The heirs of the Jewish publisher Samuel Fisher claim that in 1936 their family was forced to sell the painting under pressure from the Nazi regime. When emigrating, the family had to pay the so-called special taxes of the Reich. The heirs and representatives of the publisher S. Fischer and Releg seek a fair settlement of the conflict and hope for the return of works of art confiscated by the Nazis. Sotheby's said it did not yet have direct evidence of the coercive nature of the transaction.