HAPPENING IN DETROIT, MICHIGAN — After an art collector filed a complaint about the theft of a $5 million Vincent Van Gogh painting, a judge temporarily blocked the museum from removing the piece from its display in Detroit.
The complaint does not accuse the Detroit Institute of Arts of wrongdoing, but seeks to recover the artwork and return it to the art collector. The novel reader, also known as the reading lady, was featured in the DIA’s acclaimed Van Gogh in America show.
The show started on October 2 and will run until January 22. The lawsuit alleges that Brokerarte Capital Partners paid $3.7 million for the painting in May 2017 and then immediately transferred control of it to another person. Brokerarte consists of one person, Gustavo Soter.
Plaintiff’s lawyers claim in the complaint that “this (third) party has gone into hiding with the painting and plaintiff has been unsure of its whereabouts for years.” It seems that Soter only recently discovered that it could be found in the DIA.
The complaint was filed Jan. 10 in the Eastern District of Michigan in the United States District Court. The current market value of the photo is approximately $5 million. Brokerarte’s lawyers have urged the legal system to take swift action. The speaker urged swift action, saying, “The time for inaction is over.
The Van Gogh in America exhibition at the DIA will come to an end on 22 January 2023. The painting will be removed from the DIA’s possession and made inaccessible to plaintiff once the show is over, they stated.
US District Judge George Steeh agreed on Wednesday to issue an immediate injunction prohibiting the DIA from “damaging, destroying, concealing, removing, transporting or using the painting to significantly impair its value.” The order will remain in effect until the hearing on January 19.
The 74 authentic works by Van Gogh on display at the DIAs van Gogh in America exhibit were loaned to the museum by museums and private collectors, a process that took the exhibit organizers six years.
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