nat4b
nat4b
1 March 2023, 22:32

A painting with a sad story: Kandinsky's work stolen during the Second World War will be sold in London

A painting with a sad story: Kandinsky's work stolen during the Second World War will be sold in London
This work of art once belonged to a collector from Germany who died in 1944 in Auschwitz. We are talking about a painting by Wassily Kandinsky, which will be exhibited at the Sotheby's auction in London. And according to preliminary estimates of experts, this work will be able to bring its owners about 45 million dollars.

The history of the purchase of this masterpiece began even before the Holocaust, when the couple Johanna Margareta Stern and Siegbert Samuel Stern became its owners. They bought the painting shortly after it was created. At that time, the Sterns considered themselves to be part of the "brilliant cultural life of Berlin in the 1920s."

"View of Murnau with Church II" is one of the largest paintings by Kandinsky ever to be offered for sale. Completed in 1910, the work depicts a small church in a German town.

In addition to Kandinsky, the Stern family's exquisite art collection included works by Edvard Munch, Pierre-Auguste Renoir, and Dutch Old Masters.

The arrival of the new government put an end to their favorite hobby and way of life. And although Siegbert Samuel Stern died of natural causes, Johanna was forced to flee Germany and sell most of her works. She managed to reach the Netherlands, but the woman was still captured and sent to the Auschwitz concentration camp, where she was killed in 1944.

After a lengthy legal process, a Dutch museum returned the painting to the family last year. And after the auction, the proceeds from its sale will be distributed among the heirs of the Shtern family.

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