Das Bunte Leben
ArtistWassily Kandinsky
Year1907
MediumTempera on canvas[1]
Dimensions130 cm × 162.5 cm (51 in × 64.0 in)
LocationLenbachhaus, Munich

Das Bunte Leben (The Colourful Life) is a 1907 tempera painting by Russian artist Wassily Kandinsky.

History

Dutch art collector, Emanuel Lewenstein bought the painting immediately after it was finished in 1907. After his death, his widow Hedwig loaned it to Amsterdam's Stedelijk Museum for safekeeping.[2]

On 3 March 2017, three of his heirs filed suit in New York City against Bayerische Landesbank who believe they now own it, in respect of the painting, now valued at $80 million.[2][3]

The lawsuit claimed that the painting was effectively taken and sold without permission, "The painting was taken from its legitimate owners in 1940 in violation of international law during the period of the Nazi occupation in the Netherlands in furtherance of the Nazi campaign of Jewish genocide".[3] In June 2023, a German restitutions committee ruled in favor of the Lewenstein heirs' case against Bayerische Landesbank, resulting in the return of the painting to the Lewensteins.[4][5][6] According to the commission Hedwig Lewenstein, the sole owner after her husband's death, loaned the painting to the Stedelijk Museum in Amsterdam. Under murky circumstance the artwork was "collected" from the museum in 1940 by an art dealer named Abraham Mozes Querido and then auctioned at Frederik Muller & Co, where it was purchased by Salomon B. Slijper. Slijper concealed the painting during the war, and, after his death, his widow sold it, and it ended up in the possession of the Bayerische Landesbank.[7]

See also

References

  1. ↑ "Das Bunte Lente". Lenbachhaus Sammlung. Retrieved 22 February 2020.
  2. 1 2 Watt, Holly (3 March 2017). "Bank's Kandinsky painting was looted by Nazis, says family". The Guardian. Retrieved 4 March 2017.
  3. 1 2 Moynihan, Colin; Smale, Alison (2 March 2017). "Heirs Sue for Return of a Kandinsky, Saying It Was Looted by Nazis". The New York Times. Retrieved 4 March 2017.
  4. ↑ "German bank ordered to give Kandinsky painting back to Amsterdam family | NL Times". nltimes.nl.
  5. ↑ Smilk, Carin M. (21 June 2023). "Kandinsky's 'Colorful Life' painting to return to Jewish heirs". JNS.org.
  6. ↑ "ArtDependence | German Advisory Commission Classifies a Kandinsky Painting as Nazi Looted Art". www.artdependence.com.
  7. ↑ Bert, Peter (27 July 2023). "Art Law: Lewenstein Heirs v. Bayerische Landesbank – Recommendation of the Advisory Commission | Dispute Resolution Germany". Retrieved 3 November 2023.


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