Guggenheim Museum SUED by family demanding return of Picasso painting sold by ... trends now
The Guggenheim museum is facing a lawsuit from a Jewish family who say that their ancestors were taken advantage of by a renowned art dealer after he bought a painting by Pablo Picasso from them as they were escaping the Nazis in 1938.
The 1904 work by the Spanish artist, Woman Ironing (La repasseuse), was given to the Guggenheim in 1978 by the family of art dealer Justin Thannhauser who bought the painting from Karl and Rosi Adler as the couple was attempting to flee to South America.
According to the lawsuit, filed in a Manhattan Supreme Court, Thannhauser, a lifelong friend of Picasso's, paid the Adlers $1,552 for the painting. Thannhauser's family gave the painting for free to the Guggenheim Foundation in 1976.
The lawsuit, filed by the Adler's relatives, including their grandchildren, say that the couple would never have sold for that price had they not been facing persecution, according to the New York Post.
In 2012, a New York Times article called Woman Ironing 'one of the [Guggenheim museum's] most prized possessions.'
According to the Guggenheim's website, Picasso 'imbued his subject with a poetic, almost spiritual presence, making her a metaphor for the misfortunes of the working poor'
According to the lawsuit, filed in a Manhattan Supreme Court, Justin Thannhauser, shown here, paid the Adlers $1,552 for the painting
The family say that the painting is 'in the wrongful possession of the Guggenheim.' The lawsuit estimates the painting to be worth somewhere between $100 and $200 million.
The Adler family bought the painting from Thannhauser's father, Heinrich, in 1916 in Munich.
Following the rise of Hitler, the Adlers saw their lives 'shattered' when Hitler rose to power.
During that period, Karl Adler looked into selling the painting, seeking $14,000, around $300,000 in today's money, for the work, but ultimately he opted to keep it.
Less than a year before World War II began, in 1938, the couple found themselves with no choice other than to sell as a result of the Nazi's policies stripping them of the jobs and opportunities.
They sold the painting back to
