Provenance research on 200 objects acquired by the gallery of paintings in the period 1933–1945

In the course of the Washington Conference on Holocaust Era Assets held in Washington, D.C. on December 3, 1998, 11 principles were adopted relating to masterpieces confiscated by the Nazis (Washington Principles). The museums in the signatory countries were urged to examine their holdings in terms of their origin and, in particular, with regard to masterpieces that had been unlawfully confiscated during the National Socialist era.

In the Joint Declaration of 1999, the German government, federal states and leading municipal associations reaffirmed their willingness to act on the basis of these Washington Principles and in accordance with their legal and actual capabilities to search for further cultural goods confiscated by the Nazis as a result of persecution and, where appropriate, take the necessary steps to reach a just and fair solution. Since then, public institutions including museums, archives and libraries have been called upon to give access to their documents, to disclose information and the state of their research, to review their stocks and to publicize objects whose provenance is uncertain or suspicious.

For this purpose, the Stiftung Museum Kunstpalast set up a provenance research project to run from 2012 to 2015. It is funded by the Bureau for Provenance Research of the Staatliche Museen zu Berlin and by the Federal Government Commissioner for Culture and the Media via the Stiftung Preußischer Kulturbesitz, following a decision by the German Bundestag. Provenance researcher Dr. Katja Terlau of Cologne was commissioned to undertake the research.

During the Nazi era, numerous masterpieces were acquired in the occupied countries for Düsseldorf Kunstmuseum and later, upon the resolution of the Allied administration, returned to their countries of origin, chiefly the Netherlands and France. However, there are many masterpieces in the museum’s collection to this day that came into it from Germany by way of legitimate purchases, exchanges, gifts, endowments and estates, and which date from before 1945 and still have gaps in their provenance history. Frequently, it is the masterpieces acquired only after 1945 that lack relevant details on earlier previous owners, meaning that, to date, the possibility of confiscation as a result of Nazi persecution after 1933 could not be ruled out with absolute certainty. Therefore, the aim of the provenance research is to document the origin of the masterpieces as fully as possible without gaps. Ultimately, the additional information—for example, on former owners, on ownership situations and on the history and the whereabouts of art and cultural objects—should contribute to the assessment and definitive clarification of ownership. In this project, this means examining the provenance of a masterpiece to establish whether it changed owners during the National Socialist era and, if so, investigate these circumstances in greater depth. Provenance research thus provides the opportunity to support efforts to locate, identify and clarify cultural goods confiscated as a result of Nazi persecution (looted art).

(c) Kunstpalast Düsseldorf