The Advisory Commission on the return of cultural property seized as a result of Nazi persecution, especially Jewish property, chaired by Prof. Hans-Jürgen Papier, decided on 16 May 2023 in the case of the heirs of Hedwig Lewenstein Weyermann and Irma Lewenstein Klein versus Bayerische Landesbank, to recommend the restitution of the painting Das bunte Leben by Wassily Kandinsky to the heirs of Hedwig Lewenstein Weyermann and Irma Lewenstein Klein.

1. The subject of the proceedings is the painting Das bunte Leben [The Colorful Life] (1907) by Wassily Kandinsky (1866–1944), tempera on canvas, measuring 130 cm x 163 cm x 2.2 cm.

   The painting was acquired by the Bayerische Landesbank in 1972 and has since been on loan to the Städtische Galerie im Lenbachhaus and the Kunstbau in Munich (FH 225). The claimants are the heirs after heirs of Hedwig Lewenstein Weyermann and Irma Lewenstein Klein.

INTRO Focus on Switzerland
NEWS Stay informed with the Newsletter: Cultural Goods World War II; New ruling after reconsideration based on new facts; New recommendation and rulings: Six artworks to be returned to the beneficiaries of Emma Budge (1852-1937); New seminars at Institut national d‘histoire de l‘art (INHA) in Paris; The Museums of Strasbourg are organising an exhibition on their “National Recuperation Museums”; New website of Mission de recherche et de restitution des biens culturels spoliés entre 1933 et 1945 (M2RS) / Ministry of Culture; LostLift database online soon; Law without Law. Past and present of restitution of Nazi-confiscated art. A multi disciplinary research project at the Europa-Universität Viadrina
REPORTS Provenance Research in the Federal Art Administration; “Reicher Fischzug für die Stadt”. An oil sketch by Peter Paul Rubens in the Wallraf-Richartz-Museum & Fondation Corboud in Cologne on loan from the Federal Republic of Germany; The ICOM Museum Definition of the 21st Century; Report on the symposium “The spoliation of musical instruments in Europe, 1933-1945”; 100th meeting of the Austrian Art Restitution Advisory Board - five recommendations adopted
CASE STUDIES The Hanns Fischl collection - new insights to a well-known case; Vienna University Library: return of a book to the descendants of Raoul Fernand Mercedes-Jellinek;  A German family hands over to France two paintings stolen in Brittany during the Occupation
FOCUS SWITZERLAND Annual Conference - Arbeitskreis Provenienzforschung e. V. at the Kunstmuseum Basel, 23 November 2022; Portrait: Schweizerischer Arbeitskreis Provenienzforschung (SAP/ASP); Players in the Swiss art trade. A new large-scale research project at the Swiss Institute for Art Research (SIK-ISEA) in Zurich; Round Table on the Evaluation of Bührle Collection Provenance Research: An Interim Report; Taking fair and just decisions based on findings leading to an incomplete or uncertain state of evidence. The decision of the Kunstmuseum Bern in the restitution claim asserted by the heirs of Dr. Ismar Littmann