Daily Management Review

Restitution: Amsterdam’s Example


09/23/2021


In the Netherlands, the restitution by the Stedelijk Museum of a Kandinsky landscape signals a reversal of policy towards the victims of the Nazi regime.



by Vincent Noce

The gesture is an example worth noting. In 2018, Amsterdam refused to return a Kandinsky painting to the heirs of collector Emanuel Lewenstein. The National Restitution Commission opposed returning the work because Lewenstein’s family had sold it in 1940 after he had fled the country. A court upheld the refusal. Now, Amsterdam mayor Femke wants to be part of a "new policy clearly in favor of restitution." Read more