Heirs ask Paris court to undo £1.2m Pissarro sale over Nazi-loot claim

Seven members of one French family want a Paris court to undo the £1.2 million sale of a harbour scene by Camille Pissarro.

The claim centres on Darse de pêche et bassin Duquesne, Dieppe, après-midi ensoleillée, painted in 1902. It shows the port of Dieppe in western France. Sotheby's in London sold it on 25 June 2024 for £1.2 million, according to published sale results reported by The Art Newspaper.

The seven plaintiffs are heirs of Salomon Flavian, a Jewish banker. They say his collection was looted by the Nazis in Paris in 1941. They have asked the court to cancel the 2024 sale retrospectively.

The painting carries a difficult paper trail. Sotheby's catalogue noted that Flavian owned it in the 1930s and that it was entered in the Répertoire des biens spoliés, France's 1947 register of property looted during the war. The 2005 Pissarro Critical Catalogue of Paintings by Joachim Pissarro records the same Flavian ownership and the same looted-art registration, the court heard.

Sotheby's catalogue also said the work was sold under a settlement between the then owner and Flavian's heirs. In court, Sotheby's said that consent had been secured by Mondex Corporation in Toronto, a firm that works on the return of Holocaust-looted art.

That consent is now disputed. At a hearing in Paris on 18 September, the seven plaintiffs said the deal was signed by only two relatives. They say they were never consulted. They say two people cannot give away the rights of all.

Those two relatives were named in court as Gilles and Nicolas Flavian. Represented by Mondex, they signed a contract with the seller waiving all their rights to the painting.

Then came a letter. On 17 October 2024, Mondex wrote to family members who had not known about the sale. The firm said it had accepted an 8% share of the net sale price on their behalf, in return for their cooperation. The letter included an account statement that also mentioned a 16% commission due from the two heirs who had signed.

The other side rejects the looting claim altogether. Mondex lawyer Melina Wolman told the court the firm believes the painting was not seized by the Nazis and was wrongly registered as looted.

Mondex and Sotheby's base that view on provenance research, the documented chain of ownership, by Mary Kate Cleary, curator of provenance at the Princeton University Art Museum in New Jersey in the United States. That research was commissioned by the sellers, the court heard.

Sotheby's lists the creator as Camille Pissarro (1830–1903), according to its online catalogue entry for the lot.

The Paris court is now deliberating. Its decision will decide whether a sale completed in London two years ago can stand.