Supreme Court Revives Long-Running Nazi Art Restitution Case

One of the longest-running Nazi restitution cases, fiercely debated within the courts for two decades, seemed to have met its end last year when the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit in California ruled against the plaintiffs.

But on Monday, the Supreme Court revived it, vacating the 2024 ruling and remanding the case to the appeals court for further consideration after a California law was passed in September.

At issue is the rightful ownership of a French impressionist painting that originally belonged to a German Jew and was seized by the Nazis. The painting by Camille Pissarro, titled “Rue Saint-Honoré Après-midi, Effet de Pluie” (“Rue Saint-Honoré in the Afternoon, Effect of Rain”), is estimated to be worth millions of dollars and hangs in a museum in Madrid. The descendants of the painting’s original owner have sued the museum, claiming that the painting should return to their family.

One of the key points before the courts has been the question of whether U.S. or Spanish law applies. Last year, the federal court ruled that Spanish law, not California law, applied to the case and that the museum should retain ownership since it had lawfully acquired the painting.

That decision seemed to doom the suit, until California lawmakers enacted legislation in response to the court’s ruling. The new law, which was passed in September, says that artworks stolen by the Nazis and artworks in other restitution cases should be returned to their original owners.

The painting at stake was originally owned by a Jewish woman, Lilly Cassirer, who had to surrender the painting to the Nazis in exchange for an exit visa from Germany in 1939.