The state of Bavaria, facing accusations that it has hidden research showing works in its collections were looted by the Nazis, has pledged to speed up its provenance research and publish the findings to increase transparency.
The Süddeutsche Zeitung newspaper reported last week that it had obtained an internal list of 200 works in the Bavarian State Painting Collections that were categorised in an accompanying traffic-light system as “red”, meaning they were “clearly looted”. A further 800, the newspaper reported, were ranked as “amber”, meaning there are indications they may have been looted. The report cited a claimant to several of the listed works saying he felt “deeply betrayed” because he had never been contacted with this information.
The Bavarian State Painting Collections said in a statement that it “vehemently rejects” the accusations of withholding information. The provenances of the works concerned had been listed on its website since 2022, it said. A “red” classification did not necessarily mean a work is believed to have been looted, the institution said; that category also applied to works for which a claim was either outstanding or had been rejected.
The Bavarian culture minister, Markus Blume, conceded in a statement today, however, that “a deeper examination of the provenance research practice at the Bavarian State Painting Collections revealed that some questions remained open or left room for misunderstandings and misinterpretations”.
“More transparency, accountability and consistency is needed,” he said. He urged the Bavarian State Painting Collections to publish all works categorised as “red” or “amber” on the government’s registry of Nazi-looted art, lostart.de, and to publish all its provenance research, subject to the heirs’ consent. He said he is allocating an additional €1m in provenance research funds to set up a taskforce with additional researchers.
The Bavarian State Painting Collections has employed an in-house provenance researcher since 2008. According to its website, it has restituted 24 works since 1998. But Sanne Kurz, a Green party member of the Bavarian parliament, said that many of the works that have been returned to heirs are “of lesser value’’, adding that “really valuable works have not been returned.”
Blume has himself come under fire for his refusal to submit a dispute over Pablo Picasso’s 1903 Portrait of Madame Soler to the German government’s advisory commission on Nazi-looted art. The panel, which is due to be replaced by an arbitration tribunal this year, issues recommendations on restitution claims by the heirs of Jewish collectors who lost art in the Nazi era.
The Bavarian government has argued that, in its view, the Mendelssohn-Bartholdy family did not sell the painting as a result of persecution and it is therefore not a case for the commission. The heirs – and the commission itself – have argued that it should be up to the commission to determine that, not the current holder of the work.
Ulf Bischof, the lawyer representing the heirs, said that the Bavarian State Painting Collections has not made all the relevant documents available to the claimants.
“The traffic lights are red. The works are still in the depot. And nothing happens,” Bischof said.