DETROIT (WWJ) – The Detroit Institute of Arts has been home to the immersive “Van Gogh in America” exhibit since October, showing off many of the Dutch painter’s most famous works, including “Starry Night.”
But as the exhibit draws to an end this weekend, it’s “The Novel Reader” that is getting all the attention. After a week of controversy over who really owns the 1888 painting and who loaned it to the DIA, a judge delayed making a decision on whether the artwork should be seized from the museum.
The judge encouraged attorneys on both sides of the dispute to work towards settling things out of court without involving the DIA. On a new Daily J podcast, WWJ’s Brian Fisher digs into the case, exploring just why a Brazilian man claims he’s the piece’s rightful owner and how the world of stolen art works.
Brazilian collector Gustavo Soter filed a lawsuit last week, claiming he bought it for nearly $4 million in 2017. Soter said he transferred possession – but not ownership – of the painting to a “third party” and believed it was safe in storage for several years, until communication with the unidentified third party ceased.
DIA officials have not said how the museum obtained the painting or what will happen to it after the exhibit closes, but Fisher talked to some experts to find out how this predicament came around in the first place, and what might happen next.
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