Provenance research in the painting collection (acquisitions by West Berlin’s “Verwaltung der Staatlichen Schlösser und Gärten” between 1950 and 1995)

The Prussian Palaces and Gardens Foundation Berlin-Brandenburg (SPSG) has been examining its holdings for illegally acquired objects since 2004. Various acquisition backgrounds can indicate the provenance of an object is suspicious. These may be cultural goods which were

Confiscated from their rightful owners between 1933 and 1945 under the Nazi regime (Nazi-confiscated property and flight assets)

Expropriated in Schlossbergung (palace salvage) operations as part of land reform measures in the Soviet Occupation Zone in 1945/46 and transferred to the Potsdam Palaces Administration

Brought by the Red Army to the then Soviet Union after the Second World War from museums in the Soviet Occupation Zone; given back to the former government of the GDR in the course of major return campaigns in 195558, but as a consequence were distributed erroneously among the wrong museums, including the Potsdam Palaces Administration

Confiscated from their owners in 194989 in the GDR (GDR injustice)

Thanks to many years of intensive research work, the stories of origin of numerous paintings, sculptures, items of furniture and metal objects have been clarified and more than 150 objects already returned to their rightful owners.

Recently, in a project funded by the German Lost Art Foundation, research was continued into paintings acquired by West Berlins Verwaltung der Staatlichen Schlösser und Gärten (State Palaces and Gardens Administration). This involved 348 artworks by German and Dutch schools which had entered the SPSGs present-day collection since the 1950s. Through intensive archive and literature research and the examination of stamps, labels and inscriptions on the backs of paintings, it was possible to determine provenance information and thus reconstruct the ownership status of paintings. The provenance researchers Nina Kubowitsch, Hannah Krause and Pauline Hanson took the following methodical work steps.

Identification of suspicious factors

In-depth investigation of the suspicious factors identified

Documentation and assessment of the determined provenance

At the end of the project term, the research findings can be communicated in figures:

The holdings for examination contained a total of 348 paintings. For the assessment of a paintings provenance, all paintings were categorized as YELLOW at the beginning of the research. It was subsequently possible to examine 209 masterpieces in the review period. For all others, the examination began but could not be completed due to source-related or time-related reasons.

After completion of the research project, the provenance of 33 paintings is considered not suspicious. Their provenance during the research project period 19331945 could be reconstructed without any gaps and therefore the possibility that they are Nazi-confiscated property has been ruled out. As expected in the research field, the history of the majority of the masterpieces, 86% in total, could not be conclusively clarified. Since these masterpieces were not identified as suspicious during the research, their provenance is categorized as YELLOW. For 13 of the paintings examined, suspicious factors have been identified; however, it has not been conclusively proven at this point that they were confiscated as a result of Nazi persecution and so they have been categorized as ORANGE. The provenance of two paintings is clearly suspicious; they have been categorized as RED.

Upon completion of the project, it was announced that the SPSG was planning the continuation of provenance research by establishing a permanent position from 2019 onwards.

(c) Stiftung Preußische Schlösser und Gärten Berlin-Brandenburg, Abteilung Schlösser und Sammlungen