Yale fights to keep Night Cafe

Yale graduate Stephen Carlton Clark, the founder of the Baseball Hall of Fame, left the Van Gogh painting entitled Night Cafe to Yale.

Now, a descendant (Pierre Konowaloff) of the original owner (Ivan Morozov) claims that the property was improperly taken from Ivan by the Russian government during the Communist revolution.

According to Ed Harris, Yale fights to keep Van Gogh masterpiece, Evening Standard, March 25, 2009:

The university says Mr Konowaloff has claimed ownership and has said he wants title transferred to the Russian state and to receive compensation. Mr Konowaloff claims the Soviet nationalisation of property was illegal, so title never passed from his great-grandfather, according to Yale.

Special thanks to Joel Dobris (Professor of Law, UC Davis School of Law) for bringing this article to my attention.