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Fernand Léger believed modern life in the early 20th century had accelerated to a faster pace and in more intense, complex ways than ever before. Only the most dynamic, vigorous and abstract forms of pure painting could capture this philosophy. So in 1913 he severed all ties to conventional representation and embarked on his groundbreaking series, Contrastes de formes. The final flowering of this series is embodied in his outstanding 1914 composition, Femme en rouge et vert.
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It sums up Léger's pre-war achievement and prefigures his post-war commitment to subject matter, which would be the foundation of his art for the rest of his life.
Derived from Cubism with a distinctly personal spin, the mechanical, rotary forms generate a powerful dynamism while the figurative element, essential to the tradition of French painting, is reasserted in a realm of near-total abstraction.
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Sale 1299, Lot 32 Fernand Léger (1881-1955)La femme en rouge et vert, 1914 Oil on canvas Estimate: $10,000,000-15,000,000 
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The history of the ownership of this painting is a fascinating tale.
The famous Parisian art dealer Daniel-Henry Kahnweiler acquired it from Léger in 1914. Prior to the beginning of the war that August, Kahnweiler, despite being staunchly pro-French, was forced to leave the country due to his German nationality. He sought refuge in Switzerland to avoid being drafted into the German army. The French authorities sequestered his belongings, including numerous paintings by Picasso, Braque, Léger and Gris.
Kahnweiler returned to Paris in February 1920 to find his collection was to be sold to benefit war victims. Léonce Rosenberg, the leading exponent of Cubist painting in Paris during the war, was appointed expert-in-charge. Léonce, with his keen eye, bought Femme en rouge et vert during the second session, on 18 November 1921.
In 1935 the painting was lent to the Galerie des Beaux-Arts exposition Les créateurs du Cubism. It was looted during World War II by the EER (the paradoxically named Einsatzsab Reichleiters Rosenberg) under the German Occupational Army.
A circa 1942 photograph shows it hanging in the 'Salle des Martyrs' at Paris' Jeu de Paume, which has been converted into a storage facility for seized art. The Nazis often traded groups of 'degenerate' modern paintings for Old Masters.
After the war contracts between the collaborationist art dealer Gustav Rochlitz and Hermann Goering revealed Léger's Femme en rouge et vert, renamed Chevalier en armure, had been traded for Adoration of the Magi by the School of the Master of Frankfurt.
On 8 January 1946 the Allied Forces recovered the painting from one of Rocklitz's hidden Munich troves.
On 8 June 1948 Femme en rouge et vert was returned to France and entrusted for exhibition to the Musée National d'Art Moderne in Paris.
In 1999, the Office of Documentation at the Musée National d'Art Moderne, Centre Georges Pompidou discovered in German archives the extraordinary document, which ultimately led to the restitution of Femme en rouge et vert to the heirs of the Rosenberg family. This ERR Inventory detailed the 110 works of art seized from Paul Rosenberg's address. Dated 17 October 1941 it bears the 'HG' stamp alongside Femme en rouge et vert, indicating it was to be traded for Goering's benefit.
Anika Guntrum, Specialist, Christie's Impressionist & Modern Art Department, Paris
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