Four years before he published his landmark book Concerning the Spiritual in Art, Wassily Kandinsky began forging a visual language that broke from literal representation. In Das bunte Leben, he used color, form, and perspective to build the freer, more expressive style that would define his later work. Das bunte Leben (The Colorful Life) will return to the market this fall as a leading lot in Christie’s 20th/21st Century: London Evening Sale on October 14, estimate available upon request. Measuring roughly 130 by 163 centimeters, it was the largest canvas Kandinsky had attempted at the time and has long been regarded as one of the defining achievements of his formative period. Completed in 1907, its rarity goes beyond scale. The painting spent more than 50 years on long-term loan to Munich’s Lenbachhaus before its restitution in 2023 to the heirs of collector Hedwig Lewenstein-Weyermann. For much of the modern era,..
