Nazi-looted Kandinsky from Amsterdam family sold for almost €32m

A painting by Wassily Kandinsky, titled "Das bunte Leben" (The colourful life), was sold at Christie's in London for £27 million (€32 million), as reported by DutchNews. The artwork, which was looted from a Jewish family in Amsterdam, was originally painted by Kandinsky in Paris in 1907. The painting was acquired by Emanuel and Hedwig Lewenstein in 1927 and later became part of the collection of the Bayerische Landesbank, which loaned it to the Lenbachhaus museum in Munich for decades.

Researchers discovered that the painting was taken to an auction house in 1940 by a museum employee acting for an unknown person, indicating that it had been seized by the Nazis. In 2023, the German public prosecution department classified the painting as looted art, leading to its return to the Lewensteins' heirs. The heirs subsequently sold another Kandinsky painting, "Bild mit Häusern," for over €60 million in the same year.

Brief written by urgent.news from DutchNews's own syndicated text. Machine-written — may contain errors; check the original before relying on it.