A Jewish family is suing a Japanese Insurance company over claims they illegally obtained Van Gogh's Sunflowers.

Originally belonging to a Jewish banker by the name of Paul von Mendelsohn-Bartholdy, one of the five original ‘Sunflowers’ by Van Gogh is currently at the centre of a lawsuit between his family and a Japanese insurance firm.

The Mendelsohn-Bartholdy family are suing Sompo Holdings, one of Japan's largest insurers who acquired the painting when they merged with competitor Yasuda Fire & Marine insurance who bought the painting in 1987 for $40m.

In the lawsuit, the family claims that the previous owners purchased the artwork “in reckless disregard of its provenance, including Mendelssohn-Bartholdy’s forced sale of the painting in Nazi Germany in 1934.”

The family expanded on the firm’s acquisition of the masterpiece saying: “Sompo Holdings wrongfully has employed the painting to reap billions of dollars of unjust enrichment through a sophisticated branding strategy” and that the “defendants have commercially exploited as a corporate emblem what they long have all but known was a Nazi-tainted artwork.”

In response to the lawsuit Sompo Holdings has stated to AFP that it “categorically rejects the complaint’s allegations of wrongdoing” and “intends to vigorously defend its ownership rights in ‘Sunflowers’.”

Exhibited in the Sompo’s art museum in Tokyo for 35 years, the famous painting was purchased by the insurance company at Christie's in London.

In a previous lawsuit, Mendelssohn-Bartholdy’s descendants were returned a Picasso artwork titled “Head of a Woman” in 2020. The 1903 drawing was purchased by Washington DC’s National Gallery of Art in 2001.

Paul von Mendelsohn-Bartholdy was ousted from the German Banking Association in 1933 and sold his paintings in 1934, as the Nazis came to power and his economic situation worsened due to restrictions on Jewish businessmen.

“This distinctive artwork is both a poignant reminder of the enormous impact that Nazi policies had upon the contents of many private and public art collections today, as well as the Mendelssohn family’s tragic history in Nazi Germany.” Julius Schoeps, Director of the Moses Mendelssohn Centre for European Jewish Studies told the Washington Post.