Oct. 3 (Bloomberg) -- Sotheby's said it will sell a painting by leading Russian avant-garde artist Kazimir Malevich that may fetch ``in excess of $60 million'' at an evening sale in New York on Nov. 3.

The 1916 ``Suprematist Composition'' recently hung in the collection of the Stedelijk Museum in Amsterdam and was restituted to Malevich's heirs after a four-year court battle. They are selling the painting.

Malevich is considered by critics as one of the greatest figures in 20th-century art. He experimented in geographic shapes in abstract art, and is best known for ``Black Square,'' which is a black square painted on a white background.

```Suprematist Composition' is a magnificent modern work of art of enormous art historical importance and cultural resonance,'' said Emmanuel Di-Donna, Sotheby's vice chairman of and head of evening sales, New York.

The painting goes on public display today at Sotheby's London office, and will be on view through Oct. 20, the auction house said. From Oct. 29 to Nov. 3 it will be on display at Sotheby's offices in New York.

``It ranks among the finest paintings of the 20th century, on a par with the best paintings of modern masters such as Picasso, Rothko, Pollock and De Kooning that have ever come up for sale either at auction or privately,'' said Di-Donna in an e- mailed release.

Heirs Speak

``The sale confirms Kazimir Malevich's place in the pantheon of 20th-century masters,'' the heirs said in a statement released by Sotheby's.

In April, the Stedelijk Museum gave five Malevich paintings to the artist's heirs as part of a settlement over ownership. The heirs in turn allowed the museum to keep nine Malevich paintings already in the collection.

Malevich was born in 1878 in the Russian Empire near Kiev to Polish parents. In 1904 he moved to Moscow to study art.

``Suprematist Composition'' was first shown in Moscow in 1919. In 1927, Malevich displayed it with other works in Warsaw and Berlin. In June that year, he left Germany for the Soviet Union, leaving his art behind.

As Stalin cemented his dictatorship, Soviet citizens were prevented from traveling abroad. Malevich couldn't return to Berlin. His art was eventually sold, some ending up in the Stedelijk, while New York's Museum of Modern Art (MoMA) bought 16 others in 1935, the year he died in Leningrad.

Restitution Idea

The idea of restitution of Malevich's art began in 1993 when German art historian Clemens Toussaint scoured the former Soviet Union for Malevich's heirs, Toussaint said in a 1999 interview in St. Petersburg.

He convinced the heirs to press a claim for Malevich works held by MoMA and the Stedelijk. In June 1999, MoMA paid the heirs an undisclosed cash settlement, and handed over a 1925 painting, also titled ``Suprematist Composition,'' according to a MoMA press release. MoMA kept the other 15 paintings.

The heirs sold the 1925 ``Suprematist Composition'' at a Phillips International auction in May 2000 for $17 million.

The identity of the Malevich heirs remains a guarded secret, and Toussaint declined to name any.

Together with Toussaint, they founded the Malevich Society, a U.S.-based not-for-profit organization ``dedicated to advancing knowledge about Kazimir Malevich and his work,'' according to a statement at its web site: http://www.malevichsociety.org.

The society's president is Charlotte Douglas, professor emerita at New York University and author of books and articles on Russian avant-garde art. Toussaint is treasurer of the Malevich Society.

(John Varoli writes for Bloomberg News. The opinions expressed are his own.)

To contact the writer on the story: John Varoli in St. Petersburg at jvaroli@gmail.com.

Last Updated: October 3, 2008 09:03 EDT