Methodology

Methodology

According to the agreements between the Federal Government, the Free State of Bavaria and the Museum of Fine Arts Bern Foundation, the works from the Gurlitt art trove were to be assigned to three categories (the so-called “traffic light system”), depending on research findings:

  • A work is proven to be or is highly likely to be Nazi-looted art (category: red).
  • The provenance is not clear for the period 1933 to 1945; there are provenance gaps (category: yellow).
  • A work is proven not to be or is highly unlikely to be Nazi-looted art (category: green).

The following steps were taken by the projects to enable this categorisation:

  1. Inventory and documentation
  2. Basic check (compilation of an object record)
  3. Establishment of the work’s identity
  4. Provenance research by external provenance researchers (PDF download) and preparation of a research report
  5. Approval of the research report by the project leadership
  6. Review of the research report by independent, honorary review experts (PDF download)
  7. Issuing of a final certificate
  8. Acceptance of the final certificate by the project organiser’s executive board
  9. Categorisation in accordance with the agreement
  10. Creation of an “Object Record Excerpt” (ORE) – a summary of the verified research findings

Findings

The information provided here reflects the status after completion of the last project dedicated to investigating the Gurlitt art trove. This information will no longer be updated by the German Lost Art Foundation. It is the historical documentation of a milestone in provenance research. Please consult the website and the Gurlitt database maintained by the Museum of Fine Arts Bern for details of current developments, such as restitutions or changes in the categorisation of the works based on new research insights.

Numbers of individual items in the Gurlitt art trove

Following a recount and partial reorganisation, the total inventory of the Gurlitt art trove (as of December 2018) numbers 1,566 items.

These break down as follows:

  • not confiscated as a result of Nazi persecution (“green”): 445 items, including:
    • “green” after review = 28 items
    • Family property = 296 items,
    • “Degenerate Art prior to 1933” = 121 items (this refers to works that were removed from German museums in 1937 under the “Degenerate Art” purge but which had already been acquired by the respective museum before the National Socialists came to power and were not loans from private individuals)
  • (probably) Nazi-looted art (“red”): 9 items
  • Provenance not clarified (“yellow”): 1,057 items, including:
    • “yellow” after research = 650 items,
    • Suspicious group “Degenerate Art” = 407 items
  • Mass-produced works: 55 items

Of the 1,566 items in the inventory as a whole, 1,039 items were still to be investigated by the follow-up project “Provenance Research Gurlitt” in 2016, following completion of the research carried out by the Schwabing Art Trove Task Force (31 December 2015). This figure derives from the fact that the provenance of 573 items had already been clarified by the task force, but 46 items of these items underwent further investigation by the project for various reasons.

1,566 – 573 + 46 = 1,039

The 573 items whose provenance had previously been clarified by the task force were categorised as follows:

  • 53 items – mass-produced works
  • 231 items of so-called “Degenerate Art prior to 1933” (in the course of the follow-up project, this figure turned out to be excessive: in the case of 110 items it was established that further research was required. As a result, the project categorised only 121 items as so-called “Degenerate Art prior to 1933” and therefore unobjectionable (see above). According to the agreement, further examination of the 110 items mentioned is not to be carried out by the project but by the Museum of Fine Arts Bern)
  • 278 family-owned items
  • 5 items of Nazi-looted art
  • 2 items that are probably Nazi-looted art
  • 4 items categorised as “green”