Skip to content
'The Night Cafe' by Vincent Van Gogh. Image courtesy Wikipedia.

Appeals court sides with Yale on Van Gogh painting

Tom Hoepf
Tom Hoepf
Van Gogh's 'The Night Cafe' is said to be worth as much as $150 million. Image courtesy Wikimedia Commons.
Van Gogh’s ‘The Night Cafe’ is said to be worth as much as $200 million. Image courtesy Wikimedia Commons.

 

NEW HAVEN, Conn. (AP) – A federal court has sided with Yale University in a dispute over the ownership of a $200 million Vincent Van Gogh painting.

The 2nd U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals last week upheld a 2014 ruling by a lower court that dismissed the claims of Pierre Konowaloff. He said the Dutch painter’s The Night Cafe was stolen from his family during the Russian Revolution.

Yale, which has had the painting since 1961, sued in 2009 to block Konowaloff from claiming it.

The federal judge who backed Yale last year cited doctrine in which U.S. courts don’t examine the validity of foreign governments’ expropriation orders. In its decision, the Appeals Court said the lower court acted appropriately.

Konowaloff’s lawyer and Yale representatives did not immediately respond to requests for comment.

___

Copyright 2015 Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.

AP-WF-10-26-15 1705GMT