Kandinsky’s work stolen by the Nazis is returned to the heirs of the real owner

Painting with houses (Painting with houses), a precious painting made in 1909 by Vassily kandinsky, will return to the family of its owner after several years of legal disputes over the work sold at auction in 1940, shortly after the Nazi invasion of Amsterdam. The painting was purchased at this time by David Roell, director of the Stedelijk Museum. “It is a historic injustice which is being corrected,” he said on Friday. Simon van der sluijs, a lawyer who represented the heirs.

The municipality of Amsterdam said in a statement that it would return this oil on canvas measuring 98 by 133 centimeters, without a new decision from the Dutch restitution commission dealing with claims relating to the looted works of art, due to “the long length of the process and the importance of correcting past mistakes ”. Van der Sluijs said the heirs welcome Amsterdam’s decision to return the painting which is currently in the city’s Stedelijk Museum. “The family is happy,” he said.

Last year, an Amsterdam court upheld a 2018 restitution committee decision, in which it ruled that the artwork auctioned in 1940 should not be returned to the marriage heirs. Robert lewenstein e Irma Klein, who owned it before the brutal Nazi occupation of Holland during WWII.

The history of the painting has received a lot of attention as some consider it emblematic of changes in the Netherlands related to the way the country has handled requests for the return of works suspected of having been looted by the Nazis or sold under duress. For many years, the country was considered to be at the forefront of efforts to return stolen works to the heirs of their rightful owners. Over the past decade, critics have objected to the “balance of interest” test that the commission has used in an attempt to prioritize the work’s value to the museum over the claims of the heirs. .

The 2018 ruling said the painting had not been stolen or confiscated prior to its auction, but also said the sale “cannot, on the one hand, be viewed in isolation from the Nazi regime, but on the other hand. On the other hand, it must have been caused to some extent. “By deteriorating the financial situation” of the original owners before Nazi Germany invaded and occupied the Netherlands. “

By announcing the reinstatement in a letter on Thursday, the mayor, Femke Halsema, and the municipal councilor for art and culture, Touria Meliani, stressed the importance of correcting mistakes: “We have a history as a city and with it comes a great responsibility to face the injustice and irreparable suffering inflicted on the Jewish population during World War II. Likewise, the Stedelijk Museum acknowledged that “this may have been an involuntary sale”.

James palmer, founder of the Mondex Corporation, an organization that works among others with the Lewenstein heirs to recover looted art, praised the “courageous decision” of the municipality of Amsterdam. In an email, he said he recognized that “the property rights of plaintiffs are fundamental in a democracy, regardless of the museum’s interest in retaining such property.”

The municipality said it has “a moral obligation to act in accordance with this responsibility. The city advocates a fair and clear return policy, which returns as many looted works of art as possible to the beneficiaries or to the heirs of the owners ”. Under these new Dutch guidelines for dealing with looted works of art, he acknowledged that Kandinsky’s return to the heirs would likely be ordered. “The College of Mayors and Councilors has entered into consultations with the heirs to reach a conciliation agreement, after which the work can be immediately returned to its rightful owners,” the statement said.

Palmer said the ruling will have a wider impact on heirs seeking to recover looted art, as it “clearly removes the flawed approach to the balancing of interests test which effectively places the museum’s rights to display the property. stolen before property rights “. Thus, the legitimate owners of the work can decide to sell it, lend it or exhibit it in the museums of their choice, concluded the founder of Mondex Corporation.

Source: AP

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