AMSTERDAM, Netherlands, Feb. 4 (UPI) -- An Amsterdam museum is being sued by the heirs of Russian abstract artist Kazimir Malevich who claim rights to 14 of his paintings.
The lawsuit, filed in a Washington district court against the Stedelijk museum claims the city of Amsterdam bought the works of art illegally for a pittance in 1950.
The works are said to be worth at least $150 million, the BBC reported Wednesday.
Malevich's groundbreaking work was "white on white," featuring white paint on white canvas in 1918.
The lawsuit was filed by 31 relatives, who claim Malevich left the paintings behind after an exhibition in Berlin.
Because his work was denounced by the Russian government and the Nazi regime, he was not able to recover the paintings.
Lawyers for the relatives said the city of Amsterdam knew the children of a German friend of Malevich had no right to sell the paintings 20 years later.
Other works from the same Berlin exhibition ended up at the Museum of Modern Art in New York and at Harvard University, both of which worked out settlements with the Malevich heirs.
