Amsterdam to return Kandinsky work to pre-war owners' heirs

The Amsterdam municipality says it will return a valuable painting by Wassily Kandinsky to the heirs of a Jewish family that originally owned it

THE HAGUE, Netherlands -- The Amsterdam municipality says it will return a valuable painting by Wassily Kandinsky to the heirs of a Jewish family that originally owned it, ending years of legal wrangling over the work that was sold at auction in 1940. “This is a historic injustice that is being put right,” Simon van der Sluijs, a lawyer who has represented the heirs, said Friday. Amsterdam municipality said in a statement that it will return the 1909 work, "Painting With Houses," without a new ruling by the Dutch restitution committee that deals with claims of looted art due to “the long duration of the process and the importance of correcting wrongs of the past.” Van der Sluijs said the heirs welcomed Amsterdam's decision to return the painting that currently hangs in the city's Stedelijk Museum.