Vincent van Gogh, Le café de nuit (The Night Café) (1888). Photo: courtesy Yale University Art Gallery.

The intersection of these three names–one, a painter who is known to have influenced a community of influential fellow-painters during his own brief lifetime (not to mention since); one, a community of revolutionaries; and the other (how many ways can we categorize Yale according to the communities it represents?)–is as oddly appealing as the painting in question:

Van Gogh Painting Seized by Bolsheviks Will Stay at Yale

…In 1918, private property became illegal in Russia by decree of the Bolsheviks, who then proceeded to confiscate Morozov’s art collection. In 1933, The Night Cafe was sold to American collector Stephen Clark, who donated it to Yale in 1961. Morozov’s great-grandson and heir, Pierre Konowaloff, sued the university for the return of the painting, claiming that the Russian’s government had acted illegally in seizing the work.

The court sided in favor of Yale, citing a “act of state” doctrine which prevents US courts from examining the legality of actions undertaken by a recognized foreign government within its borders. The painting, valued at US$120 million (according to the Christian Science Monitor), will remain on display at the Yale University Art Gallery…

Read the whole story here.