Painting banned by Nazis and lost for 80 years stuns art world as it sells for £6m at auction

For free real time breaking news alerts sent straight to your inbox sign up to our breaking news emails Sign up to our free breaking news emails Sign up to our free breaking news emails SIGN UP I would like to be emailed about offers, events and updates from The Independent. Read our privacy policy Missing for 80 years and thought lost, a painting banned by the Nazis has sold for almost £6m at auction. Only seen before in black-and-white photos taken by the artist themself, Tanz im Varieté took art historians across the world by surprise when it turned up at a Munich auction house earlier this year. German expressionist Ernst Ludwig Kirchner, who is known for his vibrant abstract pieces, was included on the Nazis “degenerate art” list which saw over 600 of his works sold or destroyed under the regime. open image in gallery Another Kirchner painting named Czardas dancers They added that the painting reflects social upheaval in Germany before the First World War and “is a homage to the golden age of entertainers who, before the First World War, sent audiences into ecstasy with their show dances.” Kirchner died in Switzerland in 1938 in what was believed to be a suicide at the time, however historians have since said he was likely shot in the heart by someone else.