Acquisitions made by the Staatliche Kunsthalle Karlsruhe 1933–1945 with particular reference to the Baden-Alsatian "Generalverwaltung der oberrheinischen Museen"

From 2010 to 2013, priority was given to examining the provenance of paintings that had come into the museum between 1933 and 1945. These consisted of 210 artworks, 146 of which had entered the collection between 1933 and 1939 and 64 that had been purchased in the period between 1940 and 1944. Since the museum was under the control of the "Generalverwaltung der oberrheinischen Museen" (General administration of the Upper Rhine museums) between 1940 and 1944 and the acquisitions of this period constitute retrospective allocations, these two groups must be viewed differently.

It is important to the management of the Kunsthalle that, prior to the release of new collection catalogs, the provenances published in them are checked and completed as fully as possible. Therefore, all the entries in the "20th century painting" collection catalog, published in 2011, were also verified. Of 500 masterpieces, a more intensive examination was needed for around 100. The others were purchases from artists or artworks that had been created after 1945. For a 2012 sub-collection catalog of German Old Masters 1350–1550 ("Das Erbe der Markgrafen"), a total of 30 paintings and retables were examined in detail—either due to their acquisition date between 1933 and 1945, or because they came from problematic sources. A sub-collection catalog for the Department of Prints and Drawings is planned for 2017 (French drawings), for which provenance research will be required as well. In addition, new purchases made by the Kunsthalle since 2010 have undergone an intensive provenance examination beforehand; checks have also been carried out on works that were found as part of inventory procedures or the emptying of storage depots without inventory numbers.

(c) Staatliche Kunsthalle Karlsruhe