Controversy Over Watercolor Sold for 500 Million Won as 'Stolen Item'... Poland Claims "Originally Ours"

Poland Announces Legal Action Over "Theft 40 Years Ago"
Polish Museum Stamp Also Found on Back of Artwork

[Image source=Pixabay]

[Asia Economy Intern Reporter Lee Gyehwa] Recently, a claim has been made that a work by Wassily Kandinsky, a master of abstract art, which appeared at an auction in Germany, was a piece stolen about 40 years ago.

According to AP News and others on the 1st (local time), Kandinsky's 1928 watercolor "Untitled" was sold for 390,000 euros (about 530 million KRW, including fees) at the Grisebach auction in Berlin, Germany.

According to the catalog produced by the auction house, this work was gifted by Kandinsky to a person named Otto Ralfs. It was kept in Braunschweig, Germany until 1940. From 1965 to 1983, it was held by the Polish National Museum. Afterwards, it passed through an American collector and in 1988 was acquired by another private collector in Munich.

The Polish Ministry of Culture and the Polish Embassy in Berlin claim that this work was stolen from the National Museum in Warsaw, Poland in 1984. The Polish authorities previously informed the auction organizers and requested that the work not be put up for auction, but when this was not accepted, they announced legal proceedings.

It is known that the back of the artwork bears the stamp of the Polish museum. Piotr Gli?ski, the Polish Minister of Culture, criticized on Twitter, saying, "The German auction house has acted like a business that receives stolen goods."

Kandinsky, originally from Russia and called a pioneer of abstract painting, lived in Munich, Germany from 1896 to 1924. Poland is actively pursuing the restitution of artworks and other cultural properties looted by Nazi Germany during World War II.

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.