Kandinsky painting looted by Nazis from Amsterdam auctioned for 32 million euros
A 1907 painting by Wassily Kandinsky, which was stolen by Nazis from a Jewish family in Amsterdam during World War II, has been sold at auction for 32 million euros. The artwork was returned to the descendants of Emanuel and Hedwig Lewenstein in 2023 after German authorities officially recognized it as looted property.
The expressionist painting Das bunte Leben, created by Wassily Kandinsky in 1907, was sold at auction for 32 million euros. The artwork was originally acquired in 1927 by the Jewish industrialist Emanuel Lewenstein and his wife Hedwig, who resided in Amsterdam. Following the Nazi occupation of the Netherlands in 1940, the family's extensive art collection was confiscated by the occupiers.
After passing through several hands and eventually being housed in a museum in Munich, the painting was officially identified as looted art by German authorities in 2023. Following this ruling, the Bayerische Landesbank returned the masterpiece to the Lewenstein heirs. This sale follows the 2023 auction of another Kandinsky work, Bild mit Häusern, which the family had previously reclaimed from the Stedelijk Museum in Amsterdam after a prolonged legal dispute with the city government.
Based on reporting by nu. Translated and condensed by LocalHeadlines.
