The Gallery refers to provenance records as “citations.” Provenance citations for artworks are listed in chronological order, beginning with the earliest recorded owner. Each provenance citation includes, when known, the method of transfer; owner name and life dates (the latter in parentheses); location of ownership; and date of transfer. When full dates are unknown, the citation reflects the first known date of ownership.

Punctuation indicates whether a transfer is direct or indirect: a semicolon indicates that the artwork passed directly between two owners. A period is used to separate two owners when a direct transfer did not occur or is not known to have occurred. Uncertain information is indicated by the words “possibly,” “probably,” “reportedly,” or “purportedly.”

Notes are given to clarify uncertainties or reflect context that can assist in our understanding of an object’s transfer. In addition, notes provide documentation in cases where the source of provenance information has not been previously published—whether because it is drawn from an oral history, an archive, or a label on the back or underside of the object. Notes may also be used to indicate where research is ongoing.

Antiquities and archaeological material have been at risk for illicit excavation and smuggling. The Gallery condemns the looting of archaeological sites and the trafficking of cultural property. Curators thoroughly research provenance prior to acquisition, making every effort to obtain reliable documentation that the object left its probable country of modern discovery prior to 1970 or was legally exported from the probable country of modern discovery after 1970. The Gallery makes acquisition decisions following diligent research and retains its right to make informed judgments about acquiring works of art. The treaty signed on November 14, 1970, at the UNESCO Convention on the Means of Prohibiting and Preventing the Illicit Import, Export, and Transfer of Ownership of Cultural Property provides the Gallery with the 1970 benchmark date for collecting documentation.

Research is ongoing and antiquities and archaeological property in our collection with unconfirmed provenance will be added to the following list as they are found. As the Gallery is a member of the Association of Art Museum Directors (AAMD), antiquities and archaeological material it acquired after 2008 also appears on the AAMD’s Object Registry.

View the list of objects with provenance documentation gaps

The Nazi regime was responsible for the confiscation, destruction, displacement, and coerced sale of hundreds of thousands of art objects across continental Europe, between 1933 and 1945. Though some recovery and restitution occurred during the postwar period, thousands of artworks remain missing to this day. The Gallery seeks to document the ownership history for all works of art that were made in or before 1945 and whose known provenance suggests that they may have been in continental Europe during the Nazi period.

Objects in our collection whose ownership histories remain unconfirmed between 1933 and 1945 and are suspected to have been in Europe are added to the following list. Research is ongoing and objects will be added to the list as they are identified.

View the list of objects with Nazi-era provenance documentation gaps

The Gallery seeks to follow the highest standards of professional practice regarding artworks whose ownership may be contested. If internal research demonstrates that a work in our collection has been stolen, or unlawfully appropriated without subsequent restitution, then the museum will notify potential claimants and make efforts to resolve the matter in an equitable and appropriate manner. If approached with research or documentation demonstrating that a work of art has been stolen, or unlawfully appropriated without subsequent restitution, the museum is equally committed to resolving the matter in an equitable and appropriate manner.

Learn about ownership resolutions since 2000