Kandinsky’s Murnau – Landschaft mit grunem Haus (1909) is due to appear at auction for the first time.

The work is valued at £15m-25m ($19.4m-32.4m) ahead of a June 21 impressionist and modern art sale at Sotheby’s London.

Kandinsky painted the work in the Bavarian town of Murnau

It has the potential to beat his world auction record, set at $23.3m for Rigide et Courbe (also from 1909) at Christie’s last year.

Kandinsky painted Landschaft mit grunem Haus during a summer in the German alpine town of Murnau.

That two of Kandinsky’s most in-demand works date to 1909 is no coincidence.

This was the year he achieved a breakthrough in the development of his mature style, merging fauvist colours with cubist composition.

By the following year he was creating pieces of pure abstraction. So works from 1909 are prized as a bridge between his early and later years.  

Helena Newman, chairman of Sotheby’s Europe, said: “Kandinsky’s major early work Murnau – Landschaft mit grunem Haus is a blazing celebration of colour that captures the moment of transition in the artist’s career when he is on the cusp of moving from figuration to abstraction.

“Many of his important paintings from this highly sought-after period are housed in major museums, so this work surfacing from a private collection after almost a century represents a tremendously appealing opportunity for collectors worldwide.”

We’re selling this autograph from another great painter of the 20th century.

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