Found at Cornelius Gurlitt’s home in 2012 and suspected of containing Nazi-looted property, the “Schwabing art trove” became a public sensation in 2013. Together with other works of art that surfaced later on, it has since been referred to as the “Gurlitt art trove”.
In connection with criminal investigations relating to tax affairs in 2012, numerous works of art were found in the apartment where Cornelius Gurlitt (1932-2014) lived in Munich. These items were subsequently confiscated. Since Gurlitt was the son of well-known art dealer Hildebrand Gurlitt (1896-1956) – one of the most important intermediaries in connection with Hitler’s Sonderauftrag Linz, an organisation tasked with collecting works of art during the Second World War – the suspicion arose when news emerged of the find in 2013 that the works in question could potentially be Nazi-looted property.
As a result, the “Schwabing Art Trove Task Force” was set up by the Federal Government Commissioner for Culture and the Media and the Free State of Bavaria: from 2013 to 2015 it carried out investigations into the provenance of the artworks that had been discovered. This work was subsequently continued in 2016 and 2017 by the “Gurlitt Provenance Research Project” sponsored by the German Lost Art Foundation and funded by the Federal Government Commissioner for Culture and the Media. The research sought to clarify the historical ownership status of the suspect items, aiming to establish whether or not they were so-called Nazi-looted art and who they had been confiscated from as a result of National Socialist persecution. In addition, the written estate left behind by Cornelius Gurlitt was inventoried and catalogued so as to enable it to be put to more effective use for provenance research in the future. In 2014, an agreement was concluded between the Federal Republic of Germany, the Free State of Bavaria and Cornelius Gurlitt: according to this, Cornelius Gurlitt agreed to comprehensive research being carried out into the works in his possession with the aim of restituting Nazi-looted property in accordance with the Washington Principles of 1998. Gurlitt was the first private individual to sign such an agreement.
Following the death of Cornelius Gurlitt in 2014, the Museum of Fine Arts Bern Foundation – which Gurlitt had named as his testamentary heir – reaffirmed its commitment to the transparent investigation and restitution of Nazi-looted property in an agreement concluded with the Federal Republic of Germany and the Free State of Bavaria dated 24 November 2014.
By the end of 2017, research into more than 1,500 works from the Gurlitt art trove had been completed, although far fewer works than initially suspected were in fact Nazi-looted art; in many instances it was not possible to fill in the gaps in provenance in spite of intense efforts. What is more, many of the works were not of objectionable provenance. Most of the items in the Gurlitt art trove are works on paper, including numerous sheets of serial graphic art.
On completion of the provenance research, the artworks were categorised according to a “traffic light system” which reflected the criteria set out in the above-mentioned agreement. This categorisation was based on the final review of the research reports by international experts (see “Methodology” and “Materials” for details).
The reviews and the final documentation of the extensive data and research findings were carried out by the projects Reviews, Dokumentation und anlassbezogene Forschungsarbeiten zum Kunstfund Gurlitt [Reviews, documentation and claims-related research into the Gurlitt art trove] (1 January to 31 December 2018) and Publikation und Ergebnisdokumentation zum Kunstfund Gurlitt [Publication and documentation of findings relating to the Gurlitt art trove] (1 January to 31 December 2019).
The share of Nazi-looted property (traffic light system: red) in the Gurlitt art trove turned out to be far lower than initially assumed, with a total of nine works. A group of works owned by the family known as the Konvolut Süddeutschland included five additional works which likewise proved to be Nazi-looted art and which were restituted accordingly. In the case of many of the works in question, it was not possible to fill gaps in provenance despite intense research (traffic light system: yellow). The provenance of some of the works proved to be unobjectionable for the period 1933 to 1945 (traffic light system: green). Even though it was only possible to identify a relatively small number works as Nazi-looted art, the provenance research carried out as a whole proved to be necessary and useful. Numerous new insights were gained which shed light on other cases, for example concerning the art market in Paris under German occupation.
In accordance with the agreement between the Federal Government Commissioner for Culture and the Media and the Museum of Fine Arts Bern Foundation, the works seized as a result of Nazi persecution were restituted to their rightful owners.
The diverse findings of the project work carried out resulted in the publication Kunstfund Gurlitt – Wege der Forschung (no. 2 in the series Provenire published by the German Lost Art Foundation, 2020). This also provides fundamental insights into the structures, general circumstances and sources of National Socialist art looting beyond the Gurlitt art trove. It presents examples of research methods, including accomplishments, challenges and limitations, and also offers basic information on the markets and actors in the countries occupied by German troops between 1939 and 1945.
Those works of art that were bequeathed to the Museum of Fine Arts Bern will continue to be investigated at the museum and treated in accordance with the Washington Principles. The entire collection of works can be viewed in a database. This also lists the works acquired by the Museum of Fine Arts Bern Foundation based on the latter’s right of choice. Meanwhile the works that remained in Germany after being selected by the museum in Bern are maintained in the holdings of the Federal Arts Administration (KVdB). Provenance research likewise continues to be carried out on these works. If it established that a work is a proven case of Nazi-looted art or that this is highly probable, it is restituted.
The contact for enquiries regarding the Gurlitt art trove is the Museum of Fine Arts Bern:
Kunstmuseum Bern
Hodlerstrasse 8–12
3011 Bern
E-Mail: info@kunstmuseumbern.ch
Website: Kunstmuseum Bern "Der Nachlass Gurlitt"
The Federal Arts Administration is the point of contact for enquiries about the five works of art from the Gurlitt art trove that remained in Germany after the Museum of Fine Arts Bern Foundation exercised its right of choice:
Kunstverwaltung des Bundes
DGZ-Ring 12
13086 Berlin
E-Mail: provenienzforschung@kvdb.bund.de
The Federal Archives is the point of contact for enquiries regarding Cornelius Gurlitt’s written estate (shelfmark BArch N 1826):
Bundesarchiv
Potsdamer Straße 1
56075 Koblenz
E-Mail: koblenz@bundesarchiv.de
Website: Bestand N 1826 Nachlass Gurlitt in invenio
