London, UK - Jewish Heirs To Sell Returned Kirchner Painting

London, UK - A painting returned to the heirs of its Jewish owners by a German museum last month will go under the hammer at Christie's in New York on November 8 and is expected to fetch $18-25 million.
The street scene by German expressionist artist Ernst Ludwig Kirchner is the latest valuable work of restituted art to be sold on quickly by new owners.

Andreas Rumbler, head of Christie's Germany, called Kirchner's 1913 work "Street Scene, Berlin" "the most significant German Expressionist picture ever to come to auction".
He added that while it was not clear exactly how it was taken from its owners, the Jewish collectors Alfred and Thekla Hess, it was assumed that the Nazis were involved. "It is believed this was a forced sale which was not planned with the knowledge of the widow Thekla Hess," Rumbler said. "Money was paid by the collector in 1937, but we have to assume the widow never saw the money.
"We have to assume it was taken by the Nazis."