Heir of German Jewish Collector Seeks Return of Van Gogh Painting from Musée d’Orsay
Klaus Kallmann, a 98-year-old heir of German Jewish collector Felix Kallmann (1853–1938), is seeking the return of Vincent van Gogh’s Hôpital Saint-Paul à Saint-Rémy-de-Provence (1889) from the Musée d’Orsay, arguing it was taken from his family after the Nazis came to power. The painting, which depicts Van Gogh’s doctor Théophile Peyron, is part of France’s national collection, but Kallmann has pursued the claim for about nine years, according to reporting cited from Le Monde. France’s Commission for the Compensation of Victims of Spoliation (CIVS), led by David Zivie, acknowledges the family suffered antisemitic persecution but says it is difficult to prove the work was sold under duress, especially due to provenance gaps between June 1932 and February 1934; the painting appeared in Paris in 1934 at dealer Paul Rosenberg’s gallery and was later donated to the Louvre. The family’s lawyer, Markus Stötzel, points to the 1998 Washington Principles (signed by 44 nations) urging that unavoidable provenance gaps from the Holocaust era be weighed in restitution decisions. The next key meeting on the case is scheduled for September.
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