€25m MONET - LE PALAIS DUCAL (THE DOGE'S PALACE) IN LITIGATION OVER NAZI ERA FORCED SALE

Le Palais Ducal, "The Doge's Palace," by the French Impressionist painter Claude Monet, completed during his visit to Venice in 1908, is the subject of a civil action in US District Court in Manhatten. Research Note : Bloom et al v. Emden et al,  Case No: 19-cv-10155 (SDNY). The painting is valued at  €25m or more.

The executors of the estate of the current owner have filed what amounts to a Quiet Title suit, against the Chilean family who claims the artwork is theirs, and was the subject of a nominal sale amounting to confiscation during the Nazi era, seeking to obtain clear title to the masterpiece. One of three versions of the work, it is catalogued W1742, and was owned by Max James Emden, a Jewish department store owner and art collector, who died in 1940, and whose grandson has long claimed ownership.

Max Emden

The defendants have moved to dismiss for lack of subject-matter jurisdiction. The action was filed pursuant to New York's Long Arm statute, but the Court has not yet ruled.