Germany Returns A Kirchner Painting

A 1913 painting by Ernst Ludwig Kirchner that has been hanging in the Brücke Museum in Berlin since 1980 has been returned to the heirs of a Jewish family who owned it before World War II, officials of the Berlin Ministry of Culture announced this week. “Berlin Street Scene,” a brightly colored canvas depicting an urban crowd with a woman in a red dress in the center, is considered one of the finest examples of a series of street scenes by the artist. Experts estimate the painting’s value at $12.5 million. Ministry officials said in a statement that the painting would remain in the museum until tomorrow, when it will be returned to the family, who wishes to remain anonymous.