Appeals Courts Rules Against Jewish Collector’s Heirs in Years-Long Battle Over Pissarro Painting

A US appeals court has ruled that Madrid’s Thyssen-Bornemisza Museum can keep a Camille Pissarro painting looted from its Jewish owner, dealing a blow to his heirs, who have been trying to reclaim it for nearly two decades.

The 9th US Circuit Court of Appeals in Pasadena, California, voted 3-0 in favor of the museum on Tuesday. The heirs of Lilly Cassirer Neubauer launched their ownership claim in 2005, arguing that the museum had no right to a painting seized by Nazis. In 2022, the case reached the US Supreme Court, which ruled unanimously that the claim should be resolved per California state law, rather than US federal law.

Rue Saint Honore, apres midi, effet de pluie (Rue Saint Honore, Afternoon, Rain Effect), depicting a rain-soaked Paris street, was painted by the famed Impressionist in 1897. Cassirer was forced by the Nazi party to sell it in 1939 for 900 Reichsmarks (roughly $360 today) in exchange for a visa to escape Germany. According to court documents, she never received payment. 

The painting was purchased in 1993 by Thyssen from the collector Baron Hans Heinrich Thyssen-Bornemisza. Cassirer Neubauer’s heirs allege in the complaint filed in 2005 that the foundation knew upon acquiring Rue Saint Honore, apres midi, effet de pluie that it had been originally sold under duress. 

After learning of its location in the museum, Cassirer Neubauer’s grandson, Claude Cassirer, called for its return in 2001, and later filed a lawsuit. Cassirer died in 2010, leaving the claim to his son David, his daughter Ava’s estate, and the United Jewish Federation of San Diego County.

A 2019 trial decision, however, by US District Judge John F. Walter decided that the Thyssen-Bornemisza Collection had conducted due diligence in acquiring the Pissarro and had not been aware of any Nazi involvement.

In the latest ruling, Circuit Judge Carlos Bea stated that Spain’s intent to provide “certainty of title” to its art institutions outweighed California’s interests of discouraging art theft and achieving restitution for its residents. Because of this, he said, Spanish law should be applied to the proceedings, as the museum had in good faith exhibited the work for eight years proceeding the 2005 complaint. 

Attorneys for the Cassirers said in a joint statement that Tuesday’s ruling “fails to explain how Spain has any interest in applying its laws to launder ownership of the spoils of war.”

The Cassirers said they will pursue a new ruling with an 11-judge 9th Circuit panel.

“The Cassirers believe that, especially in light of the explosion of antisemitism in this country and around the world today, they must challenge Spain’s continuing insistence on harboring Nazi looted art,” their lawyers added.

Thaddeus Stauber, a lawyer for museum, called the court’s decision decision “a welcome conclusion to this case.”