Christie’s closed its 20th/21st‑Century London Evening Sale on 14 October with the 1907 Kandinsky canvas 'Das bunte Leben' fetching £31.56 million, surpassing the pre‑sale estimate of £25 million. The buyer’s identity remains confidential, but the transaction follows the 2023 restitution of the painting to the Lewenstein heirs after decades of legal wrangling.
The Lewenstein couple, Emanuel and Hedwig, acquired the work in 1927 and displayed it at the Stedelijk Museum before the Nazi occupiers seized it in 1940. The Nazis sold the canvas at an auction in October 1940, and it subsequently entered the private collection of Salomon B. Slijper before passing to Bayerische Landesbank in 1971.
In 1972, BayernLB bought the painting and loaned it to Munich’s Lenbachhaus, where it remained on public display for decades. The family’s 2017 lawsuit culminated in a 2023 court‑ordered return, a decision that Christie’s highlighted as a landmark restitution precedent.
The auction house described the canvas as a “bursting kaleidoscopic play of vivid colour and vitalistic energy,” noting its 130.5 × 162.6 cm dimensions and its status as the largest work Kandinsky completed in Paris.
With the sale complete, the painting’s journey from Nazi plunder to private ownership underscores the enduring impact of art restitution and the legal frameworks that now govern the return of looted cultural property.