Blick auf Murnau mit Kirche

Wassily Kandinsky

Item information

Blick auf Murnau mit Kirche

183
Paintings
Van Abbemuseum

Reconstruction of provenance history

? <> ?
: Daughter of A. Kaufmann (collection), Netherlands
:
: Museum inventory

Before 1951
: K. A. Légat (art dealer), The Hague
:
: Museum inventory

1951
: Purchased by the museum from the art dealer K.A. Légat
:
: Museum inventory

1951 <> present day
: Van Abbemuseum
:

Current restitution status

Restituted
: 2018: The Restitutions Committee has issued a binding opinion about the application for restitution of the painting Blick auf Murnau mit Kirche by Wassily Kandinsky, currently in the possession of Eindhoven City Council. The Committee takes the view that the city council is not obliged to restitute the work.
2022: The Restitutions Committee announced a second binding opinion on 12 September 2022. It advised the municipality of Eindhoven to return the painting Blick auf Murnau mit Kirche by Wassily Kandinsky to the heirs of its former owner. The municipality of Eindhoven and the Van Abbemuseum purchased the work in 1951. This second binding opinion was preceded by additional research, which lasted two years and yielded new material. In the first binding opinion of 29 January 2018, the application for restitution was rejected; it could not be established with the required degree of plausibility that the work had been misappropriated from Johanna Margarethe Stern-Lippmann (1874-1944), the Jewish (great-)grandmother of the applicants, during the Nazi regime. The full recommendation can be found on the website of the Restitutions Committee (file number RC 5.178).

Research findings

When and from whom Légat art gallery acquired this painting is no longer known. Who the former owner 'A. Kaufmann' was and how the painting was lost is no longer known.

The museum acquired this painting in 1951 from Légat art gallery in The Hague. The old museum inventory card states 'Formerly of A. Kaufmann's collection, whose daughter in the Netherlands sold it to Légat (opg. Légat).' Given that Kaufmann is a common Jewish name and the nature of this entartete painting, it is possible that the provenance of this work is problematic. A search on Internet and at RKD, NBI and catalogues of Kandinsky's oeuvre have turned up several possible candidates for the name A. Kaufmann, yet there can be little certainty regarding the former owner, or the reason why it was given away.
Het is onbekend wanneer en van wie kunsthandel Légat dit schilderij heeft verworven. Het is niet duidelijk wie de voormalige eigenaar 'A. Kaufmann' was en hoe het schilderij uit zijn bezit geraakte. [nl]

Het museum verwierf dit schilderij in 1951 bij kunsthandel Légat in Den Haag. Op de oude inventariskaart van het museum staat “vroeger verzameling A. Kaufmann, door diens in Nederland wonende dochter verkocht aan Légat (opg. Légat).” Gezien de mogelijk joodse naam 'Kaufmann' en de entartete aard van het kunstwerk, rijzen er vermoedens dat het werk een problematische herkomstgeschiedenis zou kunnen hebben. Onderzoek op het internet en in onder andere het RKD, NBI en oeuvrecatalogi van Kandinsky heeft weliswaar een aantal potentiële personen met de naam A. Kaufmann opgeleverd maar niet met zekerheid uitgewezen wie de voormalige eigenaar was of waarom hij afstand van het schilderij deed. [nl]

Do you know more about this object? Contact us at restitutie@cultureelerfgoed.nl

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