A 1907 masterpiece by Russian painter Wassily Kandinsky, looted from a Dutch-Jewish family during the Nazi occupation of the Netherlands, sold at a London auction earlier this week for £31.56 million (about $42 million, including fees), The New York Times reported.
asserted
Times → loot → fees
The painting,
Das bunte Leben (
The Colorful Life), was returned to the family’s heirs in 2023 after decades of disputed ownership.
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painting → return → ownership
A Paris canvas
Pic credit: Christie's
Wassily Kandinsky painted Das bunte Leben in Paris in 1907.
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Kandinsky → paint → 1907
At 130.5 × 162.6 centimetres, it was the largest canvas he had completed to that date.
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he → complete → date
Christie’s describes it as a key work from his years in the city.
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Christie → describe → city
With this painting, he wanted to “let the viewer take a stroll within the picture” and “become absorbed” in it.
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viewer → want → it
“In this particular case, one strolls into a mysterious panoramic landscape teeming with life,” the auction house said.
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house → stroll → life
Kandinsky had high hopes for
Das bunte Leben.
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Kandinsky → have → Leben
In October 1907, it was exhibited at the Salon d’Automne.
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it → exhibit → d’Automne
German art dealer Herwarth Walden later acquired the painting and displayed it in a 1912 exhibition of Kandinsky’s work at his Berlin gallery, Galerie Der Sturm.
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Walden → acquire → gallery
In November 1927, Amsterdam businessman Emanuel Albert Lewenstein and his wife, Hedwig Lewenstein-Weyermann, bought it.
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Lewenstein → buy → it
The couple ran a sewing machine business in Amsterdam and built a collection that also included works by Jan Toorop and Jozef Israëls.
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that → run → Toorop
The painting was later lent to the Stedelijk Museum, according to The Times of Israel.
uncertain
painting → lend → Israel
When Nazi Germany invaded the Netherlands in 1940, the Lewenstein collection was broken up.
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collection → invade → 1940
In October 1940, the Kandinsky was taken from the Stedelijk and sold at auction.
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Kandinsky → take → auction
“It remains unclear under whose direction the works came to market, or who benefited from the proceeds,” the auction house said.
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house → remain → proceeds
The painting was then bought by Dutch collector Salomon B. Slijper.
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painting → buy → Slijper
After his death in 1971, it entered the collection of Bayerische Landesbank in Germany, where it hung for decades.
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it → enter → decades
Historians have struggled to establish exactly how the painting was sold.
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painting → struggle → ?
In 1972, German bank Bayerische Landesbank (BayernLB) purchased it and lent it to the Lenbachhaus museum in Munich, where it remained on public display.
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it → purchase → display
“In 1972, BayernLB legally acquired the painting ‘Das Bunte Leben’ by Kandinsky at the instigation of the City of Munich.
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BayernLB → acquire → Munich
The purchase negotiations were handled by the Lenbachhaus museum, where the painting has been publicly displayed on permanent loan ever since.
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painting → handle → loan
Nonetheless, BayernLB is willing to take part in a review by the so-called Limbach Commission.
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BayernLB → take → Commission
BayernLB feels, however, that the commission’s decision should be binding on all parties.
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decision → feel → parties
BayernLB has expressed its desire that the painting remain on public display at the Lenbachhaus rather than be taken away,” BayernLB told The Guardian in 2017.
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BayernLB → express → 2017
The heirs reportedly filed a lawsuit against the bank in 2017.
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heirs → file → 2017
They spent years reconstructing the painting’s history, working with their own advisers and the Mondex Corporation.
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They → spend → advisers
In June 2023, the bank returned the work to the heirs of Hedwig Lewenstein-Weyermann.
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bank → return → Weyermann
The London sale
Pic credit: Christie's
On Wednesday, 14 October, Christie’s sold the painting in its 20th/21st Century London Evening Sale.
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Christie → sell → Sale
It beat its pre-sale high estimate of £25 million, closing at £27 million before fees and £31.56 million with them.
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It → beat → them
The identity of the buyer has not been disclosed.
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identity → disclose → buyer
Christie’s describes
Das bunte Leben as a painting “bursting with a kaleidoscopic play of vivid colour and vitalistic energy”.
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Christie → describe → colour
It is among the early masterworks of Kandinsky’s storied career, the auction house said.
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house → say → career
“Executed on a monumental scale that reveals the artist’s bold ambitions for the work, the canvas is alive with detail and incident, independent touches of vibrant pigment building a mosaic-like pattern that describes a panoramic, romantic view of the often conflicting and contrasting aspects of the lived experience.
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that → execute → experience
The scene teems with intriguing vignettes, the lively cast of characters offering juxtaposing visions of love and death, peace and chaos, danger and an idyllic, festive atmosphere, creating a rich symphonic composition that conveys the multifaceted nature of human existence,” the auction house described.
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house → teem → existence
The Aporia
