Within the scope of a project funded by the German Lost Art Foundation, all paintings acquired by the Staatliche Kunstsammlungen collections between 1933 and 1945 were examined between January 2015 and March 2017 in order to identify art potentially looted by the Nazis and to locate any descendants and potential heirs. In such cases, Hessen Kassel Heritage actively pursues the restitution of these works to their rightful owners.

The provenance research department can be contacted at provenienzforschung@heritage-kassel.de

Provenance stories

In recent years, the term "provenance research" has been applied to researching the origins of a work of art, which has become a widely known and discussed art history research field. At the latest since the "Gurlitt case", the general public has become much more aware of what this term stands for, namely that it is often associated with an aspect related to one of the darkest times in Germany's history: art looted by the Nazis.

However, researching the provenance of a work of art goes well beyond this, as each work of art also quasi writes its own story in the course of its travels from one collection to the next, from one context to another. These stories are now often called object biographies. Traces of the object's journey can usually be found on the reverse of paintings in the form of numbers, labels or inscriptions. These sober traces sometimes reveal surprising background stories to the provenance researchers who investigate them.

Kassel's picture gallery offers plenty of material for such research. Some works can be traced back to the point in time when they were created. Others had already been in many collections, in many places, in different contexts before reaching Kassel. Some previous owners were famous historic figures, for example William II of the Netherlands. Others were notorious, such as Hermann Göring, who amassed a huge hoard. Others again are associated with moving love stories, or also with tragic events. Paintings therefore do not only have their own fate, but fates are associated with paintings.

This and much more is illustrated by the publication that guides visitors through the three floors of the Gemäldegalerie Alte Meister in Schloss Wilhelmshöhe palace and is available from the Schloss Wilhelmshöhe palace museum shop.

Provenance stories. Gemäldegalerie Alte Meister. Schloss Wilhelmshöhe palace, Kassel, edited by Justus Lange, Günther Kuss and Stefanie Rehm, published by Museumslandschaft Hessen Kassel, Kassel 2017.