So now it is: Wassily Kandinsky’s “The Colorful Life” from the Munich Lenbachhaus is being returned to the Jewish Lewenstein family who own it. They had lost the work in Amsterdam during the war. The current owner is Bayerische Landesbank, which was the last authority to say yes to the restitution on Monday. A spokesman confirmed the step to the SZ. The Advisory Commission on Nazi Looted Goods, known as the Limbach Commission, had previously recommended their return; the budget committee of the Bavarian state parliament had also agreed.
It could have turned out differently. In recent years, the Landesbank has put forward various counter-arguments that are Commission recommendation are documented. Among other things, it was assumed that a family member had delivered the painting to the Nazi auction that took place on October 8, 1940 in occupied Amsterdam. The bank also claimed that the work was of outstanding ideal value for Munich, which is why the loan should stay where it is. The Commission rejected both. Given the horror of the Nazi crimes, there could be no “ideal seizure of cultural property in public institutions”.
Radiant decision: Retreating to formal legal positions is no longer the case
Interestingly, the Landesbank never tried to claim that it was not a public institution in the sense of a museum, so as not to have to follow the Washington Principles. These include the self-commitment to return art stolen under National Socialism. The argument would not have been credible given the participation of the Free State of Bavaria in the bank. The decision will now have an impact on other private owners who own questionable works: Retreating to formal legal positions no longer applies.
The representative of the heirs, James Palmer from the Mondex agency, also aims at this point when he says: The return is also so important because it shows other Bavarian owners of stolen works of art “how important it is to return stolen property, regardless of whether this is required by law.” A return could give the affected families “a sense of healing, justice and dignity”.
The history of the painting is closely linked to the city of Munich, which in the post-war period liked to remember the avant-garde artists of the pre-war period – probably also to distract from its own Nazi history. In the early 1970s, for example, the municipal Lenbachhaus pushed for the purchase of the picture and the loan from the Landesbank without showing much interest in the details of its origin.
It’s good that this is different now and loot is called loot. It is regrettable, however, that the Landesbank, the city and the museum have apparently not even attempted to buy the painting back from the rightful owners.