The Netherlands returns forcibly-sold painting to its owners

CAIRO – 2 March 2022: The Dutch Stedelijk Museum has returned a 1940 painting by Russian artist Wassily Kandinsky to the heirs of a Jewish couple who sold it while trying to escape from the Netherlands during World War II.

Entitled "Painting with Houses," the painting was created by Wassily Kandinsky in 1909, according to the New York Times website.

A statement issued by the Dutch city of Amsterdam stated that it had reached an agreement with the heirs of Robert Lowenstein and Irma Klein to settle the dispute. “It's unclear who decided to sell the painting, but the auction took place just months after the Nazi invasion, and the museum admitted that this was likely a forced sale," said the Deputy Mayor of Amsterdam in the statement.

Russian artist Wassily Kandinsky (December 16, 1866 - December 13, 1944), is one of the most famous artists of the twentieth century. His discoveries in the field of abstract art made him one of the most important innovators in modern art. In both cases, as an artist and researcher he played a pivotal role in the development of abstract art. 

Kandinsky is one of the early pioneers of the non-figurative or non-representational principle, in other words, the principle of "pure abstraction". He is also considered the pioneer of expressionism – abstraction, which became the dominant school of painting ever since.

The Kandinsky Prize for Art is attributed to him, and one of his most famous designs is the Kandinsky Chair, which took the stamp of the Bauhaus School in Germany.