Heirs of Jewish banker and collector Paul von Mendelssohn-Bartholdy are appealing a lower court's dismissal of their lawsuit against Japanese insurer Sompo Holdings over Vincent van Gogh's painting *Sunflowers* (1888-89), valued at $250 million. The plaintiffs—Julius H. Schoeps, Britt-Marie Enhoerning, and Florence von Kesselstatt, representing over 30 beneficiaries—claim the work was sold under Nazi pressure in 1934. Sompo bought the painting in 1987 for a record $25 million at Christie's London. The case was heard by a three-judge panel of the US Court of Appeals for the Seventh Circuit on 17 September 2025, under the 2016 Holocaust Expropriated Art Recovery (HEAR) Act.
This case matters because it tests the reach of the HEAR Act and the legal force of the Terezin Declaration in recovering Nazi-looted art from foreign entities. The outcome could set a precedent for other restitution claims involving artworks held by international corporations, especially those with US offices. The painting, housed at the Sompo Museum of Art in Tokyo, is one of only three Van Gogh *Sunflowers* from 1888-89, making it a high-stakes cultural and legal battle.