Heirs ask Paris court to void 2024 Sotheby's sale of Pissarro harbour scene

Seven heirs of Jewish banker Salomon Flavian have asked a court in Paris to cancel the 2024 sale at Sotheby's in London of a Camille Pissarro harbour scene they say was looted by the Nazis.

The case concerns Darse de pêche et bassin Duquesne, Dieppe, après-midi ensoleillée, a view of fishing docks at Dieppe in northern France. Sotheby's, the auction house in London, identifies the artist as Camille Pissarro, 1830–1903, and still hosts an online listing for the work.

Provenance, the documented chain of ownership, is at the heart of the dispute. The heirs say the painting belonged to Flavian, whose collection was taken by the Nazis in Paris in 1941, according to The Art Newspaper.

The painting was sold at Sotheby's in 2024. The Paris court is now deliberating on the request to undo that sale.

Two accounts of that sale are in conflict. The seven heirs say they were not consulted before it went ahead. Sotheby's online listing describes the work differently, as offered for sale pursuant to a settlement between the current owner and heirs of Salomon Flavian, according to Sotheby's.

That gap is what the court must weigh. To annul means to declare the sale legally void. The heirs are asking the judges to do that on grounds of alleged Nazi looting, ARTnews reported.

No ruling has been published. The identities of the current owner and buyer have not been made public in the reports of the hearing.

For readers new to these cases, the timeline matters. A seizure in 1941 can still decide who holds a painting more than 80 years later. Paperwork from the war years, post-war claims and later private agreements all sit in the file.

What makes this stand out is the challenge to a completed public auction. Most restitution claims are settled before a sale or result in a shared sale. Here the heirs want the 2024 transaction reversed.