Looted Kandinsky Painting Sells for A$51M in London
A painting by Wassily Kandinsky that spent decades in a Dutch museum after its Jewish owner was murdered in the Holocaust has sold at auction in London for A$51 million, according to the Canberra Times.
The work, Das bunte Leben (The Colourful Life), was offered in Christie's 20th/21st Century: London Evening Sale in London on 14 October 2026, Christie's said ahead of the sale.
Kandinsky painted the large figurative scene in 1907. It measures 130 by 163 cm and was the largest canvas he had attempted up to that year, according to Christie's press materials. It is signed and dated KANDINSKY 1907 at the lower left and is also known by the French title La vie mélangée. It was exhibited at the Salon d'Automne in 1907.
Ahead of the auction, Christie's placed an estimate of £18,000,000 to £25,000,000 on the painting. The New York Times reported before the sale that it was expected to draw bids exceeding $30 million at the October auction.
The painting had been restored to the heirs of its former Jewish owner before the sale, according to The New York Times. The Associated Press had previously reported that the work spent decades in a Dutch museum after its owner was murdered in the Holocaust.
