The Polish Minister of Culture, Piotr Glinski, stated on Monday that he “will do everything possible” to get the recent sale in Berlin of a stolen painting by Wassily Kandinsky to be annulled. from the National Museum in Warsaw in 1984.

Glinski stated at a press conference that both the buyer and the Grisebach art gallery, which auctioned it off, “acted in bad faith” and relied on German legislation that, after 30 years, makes any claim impossible in operations of this type.

The work in question, dating from 1928, was auctioned for 310,000 euros on December 1. Its sale was notified to the government by Polish heritage inspectors who routinely scour the international art market for goods looted during World War II.

As has been verified, at the time of the sale the painting had stamps on the back indicating its belonging to the Warsaw Museum and Poland had reported its theft to Interpol in 1984.

Upon hearing the news, the Polish Prime Minister, Mateusz Morawiecki, described what happened as “shocking” and advanced that “political and legal measures” would be taken to recover the painting. He also alluded to the persistent bilateral conflict over the war reparations that his government demands from Germany and which for Berlin is a “closed case”.

According to Morawiecki, the law that allowed the auction of the Kandinsky “is immoral”, “breaks the rules of trust in the art market” and “is detrimental to the interests of auction houses and art collectors throughout Europe”. .

Minister Glinski assured this Monday that the law that prevents legal action against this type of transaction of works of art after 30 years has been “discussed for a long time with the German government.”

“Germany maintains a law that contradicts both basic European values ​​and the most elementary sense of decency,” the minister said.

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