An important painting by Wassily Kandinsky, titled "Colorful Life," remained for more than 50 years at the Lenbachhaus museum in Munich, on loan from a Bavarian bank. Now, the work will be auctioned by Christie's in London, with expectations of receiving bids exceeding US$ 30 million, equivalent to more than R$ 155 million.
The painting belonged to Dutch Jewish industrialist Emanuel Albert Lewenstein, director of a sewing machine factory, and his wife, Hedwig Lewenstein Weyermann. After the couple's death, which occurred before the German invasion of the Netherlands, the family descendants were persecuted by the Nazis. The work was ultimately sold at an auction in 1940, under circumstances that remain unknown.
In 2023, after analyzing the context in which the transaction occurred, an advisory commission of the German government recommended the return of the painting to the Lewenstein family heirs. The Lenbachhaus museum accepted the decision, and the heirs decided to sell the work at Christie's auction.
