The German government's advisory panel on Nazi-looted art has suggested that a colorful painting by Wassily Kandinsky should be returned to the descendants of a Jewish family who were persecuted during World War II in the Netherlands. The painting, called "Colorful Life," was part of a large art collection owned by Emanuel Albert Lewenstein and his wife, Hedwig Lewenstein Weyermann. It is believed that the painting was on loan to the Stedelijk Museum in Amsterdam when the Germans invaded the Netherlands in 1940 and was later sold at an auction.
Since 1972, the painting has been displayed in a museum in Munich, the Städtische Galerie im Lenbachhaus, on loan from a state-owned bank called BayernLB. At the time of the auction, the Lewensteins had passed away, and their two surviving children had fled Europe. The circumstances of the sale and the identity of the seller have not been determined despite years of research.
The German advisory commission stated that art losses suffered by persecuted groups in the Nazi-occupied Netherlands should be considered involuntary and eligible for restitution, unless clear evidence proves otherwise. The commission highlighted the systematic exclusion and dispossession of the Jewish population in the Netherlands after the German invasion in May 1940.
"Colorful Life" is an important artwork in Kandinsky's transition from figurative to abstract painting. The painting depicts various characters in traditional Russian clothing engaged in different activities in a dreamlike landscape. The German bank acquired the painting from the widow of the collector who purchased it at the 1940 auction. The bank argued that the painting was voluntarily consigned to auction, but the advisory commission rejected this claim, considering the circumstances of persecution faced by the Jewish community.
The bank has not made a final decision regarding the panel's recommendation, which is not legally binding. It stated that it would consider the advice in its decision-making process. The heirs of the Lewenstein family, represented by Mondex Corporation, have welcomed the recommendation.
This case follows a similar dispute in 2021, where another Kandinsky artwork lost under similar circumstances in the 1940 auction was returned to the Lewenstein heirs after a prolonged legal battle with the city of Amsterdam.
The panel's recommendation has led to reforms in the Dutch Restitutions Committee and the establishment of new guidelines for returning Nazi-looted art in the Netherlands. These guidelines now presume involuntary expropriation if the original owner belonged to a persecuted group and the expropriation occurred in the Netherlands after May 10, 1940.
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