Provenance research deals with the origin, history and previous owners of objects in a collection.

An important element of the work is the systematic examination of the collections for any artworks and cultural assets that may potentially have been stolen from their owners during the Nazi era on the basis of the "Washington Conference Principles on Nazi-Confiscated Art" endorsed by the Washington Conference on Holocaust-Era Assets. Together with 43 other states, the Federal Republic of Germany has committed itself to identifying cultural assets confiscated during the Nazi era as a result of the persecution of their owners, and to agree a fair and just solution with any descendants and heirs who may have a claim on these. The verification of the biographies of the victims, perpetrators and regime followers makes an important contribution to maintaining a culture of remembrance.

Besides such an examination of the own repositories, potential new additions to the collections are also examined beforehand.