Court orders Detroit Institute of Arts to hold onto Van Gogh painting amid legal battle
(CBS DETROIT) - Federal appeals court judges are ruling in favor of a Brazilian collector, who claims a Vincent van Gogh painting that was on display at the Detroit Institute of Arts was stolen from him years ago.
After a district judge dismissed the collector's lawsuit to force the DIA to return it, judges from the Sixth Circuit Court of Appeals are granting the collector's request for an injunction.
The court is ordering the museum to keep the artwork called "Novel Reader" until further notice.
"I wouldn't assume that it's gone to the appeals court that the ruling is going to change in the end," Jeffrey Abt, art history professor at Wayne State University.
The Brazilian collector, Gustavo Soter, claims he bought the painting back in 2017, but gave it to a third party to store it. In court filings, Soter claims he eventually lost contact, and the painting was nowhere to be found until Soter saw it at the DIA.
The museum was loaned the painting, and the DIA was later granted protection under what's called the Immunity from Seizure Act, which is given to artwork loaned from overseas.
"The DIA does not play any role in this. They are a completely innocent party," said Abt. "To rule in contrary to this, it would definitely be novel and call into question the parameters and meaning of the Immunity from Seizure Act. It will be an interesting case to follow."
He said it would also be hard for a judge to force the museum to give it to Soter since it has a contract with the person who loaned it to the facility.
"It's not entirely clear that any court can tell the DIA to just…tear up the contract," Abt said.
A DIA spokesperson issued the following statement in response to the court order:
"The DIA will fully comply with the order from the U.S. Court of Appeals regarding the custody of The Novel Reader and will be responding on January 30 to the plaintiff's recent pleading. The DIA will have no further comment prior to a ruling by the Court."
CBS News Detroit reached out to the attorney of the man suing the DIA but was told he would not comment.
