A major work by Russian painter Kazimir Malevitch (1878-1935) sold for a record US $ 17 million on May 11th 2000 at Phillips in New York. This Suprematist composition measuring 80.3x80.3 cm was sold on behalf of the heirs of the painter by the Museum of Modern Art in New York, which had kept it for many years.
Dating from 1919-1920 it exhaled the deep research conducted by Malevitch in the field of Suprematism, a movement he founded at a time when the Soviet Revolution erupted. It had been exhibited in Berlin in 1927 and then hidden in Germany when the Nazis took power before it was sent to the U.S in the 1930s. After a long procedure regarding its restitution, it was handed backed by the MoMA to the 31 known heirs of Malevitch who will now share the proceeds of that sale.
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