Ernst Ludwig Kirchner painting thought to be lost for decades goes on display in Basel

A long-lost Ernst Ludwig Kirchner painting, *Tanz im Varieté* (Dance at the Varieté, 1911), has gone on display at the Kunstmuseum Basel after being rediscovered and purchased at auction. The work, previously known only through photographs, was sold at Ketterer Kunst in Munich for around €7 million to the Im Obersteg Foundation, which loans its collection to the museum. The painting depicts a cakewalk dance and had not been exhibited since 1923 in Berlin. Its provenance includes ownership by a German collector during the Nazi era, when Kirchner's art was deemed 'degenerate,' and damage by French soldiers who discovered it in a crate after World War II.