Jul 14, 2025

Kunstmuseum Bern's donors, Nazi looted art and problems of transparency and accessibility in a leading Swiss museum

The Kunstmuseum Bern does not make it easy to find provenance information.

Instead of publishing the artworks in its collection on its website in the normal way with all the normal information (title, artist, inventory number, image, credit line, provenance, dimensions, et), accessible via url, the Kunstmuseum Bern has compartmentalised information in various PDF files and on special sections of its website.

Frustrated by the difficulty of obtaining a unified vision of the acquisitions after 1933, we searched for another approach, one adapted to the existing publications. 

In this post we attempt to map the information associated with important donors to the Kunstmuseum Bern during and after the Nazi period -- and fail.  

Why? Because we did not manage to find a central website or dataset or even PDF with all the necessary information.

Even if one has the inventory number or the digital ID of the artworks, it is not easy to find the provenance information unless it is Gurlitt-related. (And even then it is gappy.)

Donors we looked at include:

1. Max Huggler (c. 1945–2007)

  • President of Swiss museum associations and private collector

  • Bequeathed his collection to the Kunstmuseum Bern, including around 80 significant works by artists such as Cuno Amiet, Joseph Beuys, Ernst Ludwig Kirchner, Paul Klee, Joan Miró, Pablo Picasso, and othersWikipedia+15Wikipedia+15Artnet News+15.

2. Georges Frédéric Keller (gifted lifetime loan starting in 1951; passed in 1981)

  • Swiss‑Brazilian collector and dealer

  • Lent around 120 modern paintings and sculptures (Cézanne, Matisse, Soutine, Modigliani, Renoir, Dali, Picasso) to the museum from 1951; bequeathed the collection upon his death, considered the museum’s largest donation to that date The Times of Israel+1Wikipedia+1Wikipedia.

3. Hermann Rupf (donation 1954)

4. Nell Walden & Marguerite Arp‑Hagenbach (1960s)

5. Adolf Wölfli Estate (1975)

6. Stiftung Othmar Huber (1979)

  • Deposited key works including Picasso, Klee, Franz Marc, Alexej von Jawlensky, Kandinsky, contributing major modernist pieces Wikipedia.

7. Anne‑Marie & Victor Loeb Foundation (1970s–1980s)

  • Their foundation gifted works by Johannes Itten, Victor Vasarely, Max Bill, Richard Paul Lohse, Piero Manzoni, Jean Tinguely, and others, further boosting the post‑war avant‑garde holdings Wikipedia.

8. Meret Oppenheim Legacy & Other Gifts (1980s onward)

9. Eberhard W. Kornfeld (bequest in 2024)

  • Renowned Swiss art dealer (1923–2023)

  • In 2024, gifted significant works including Kirchner’s Junkerboden (1919) and Giacometti’s Caroline (1965)WikipediaWikipedia+1Kunstmuseum Bern+1.

10. Cornelius Gurlitt Estate (accepted in 2014; subsequent restitutions)

  • Inherited the controversial Gurlitt collection (1,400+ works, including Matisse, Renoir, Monet) under the condition that provenance research and restitution be pursued Wikipedia+3USA Art News+3Wikipedia+3.

Ongoing provenance research has led to the return of identified Nazi‑looted artworks, though most remain part of the museum’s collection under review (ex The Times of Israel )


Gurlitt, Huggler, Kornfeld, Keller and Rupf have all been linked to Nazi looted art previously owned by Jewish collectors, and Othmar Huber is known to have purchased art seized by the Nazi authorities from their own German museums.

***

In 2014, Matthias Frehner, the Director of the Kunstmuseum Bern, stated that the museum does not want any "Kunst aus illegitimem Besitz" (illegitimately owned artworks). (https://www.lootedart.com/news.php?r=QMYDSA865171) 

But where is the transparency?

Unlike nearly all other museums in its class, Kunstmuseum Bern appears to offer no public REST or developer-facing API to access its collection or metadata. 

There are isolated datasets, like for (some of) Gurlitt,  published at https://gurlitt.kunstmuseumbern.ch/de/collection/item.

There are PDFs with various reports, published here and there.

There is a "Gesamtliste_Slg.Präsentation_26.05.2025.pdf" which is not complete and which changes depending on which artworks are currently exhibited.

There is a 18MB PDF with a "Findmittel". (One can apparently travel to Bern and access information.)

There are various catalogues offering a slice of the collection.


But who among us had ever been able to consult or analyse the complete list of all the artworks created before 1945 and acquired by Kunstmuseum Bern after 1932?

One does not even appear to be able to  access a complete list of the artworks held by the Kunstmuseum Bern for a specific artist.

After a restitution claim has resulted in a restitution, a settlement or a refusal, one can not ask the question "what else" passed through the same hands because the data is not publicly available.

There is, however, a simple solution to this lack of transparency.

Kunstmuseum Bern could publish its collection online, like other museums do, with title, artist, medium, inventory number, digital object ID, and credit line.

That's not hard. Why not do it now?

***

Below is what appears to be the current procedure:

The Kunstmuseum Bern's collection, as a whole, comprises over 4,000 paintings and sculptures and approximately 44,000 drawings, prints, photographs, videos, and films, spanning from the Gothic period to the present. This vast collection means many works acquired since 1932 would have been created before 1945.
3. Procedure for Obtaining the List
1. Consult the "Museumsarchiv Findmittel" (PDF): Identify the specific document numbers and titles mentioned above that fall within your target acquisition period (since 1932) and indicate the presence of creation dates.
2. Submit a Request: Contact the archive via email (archiv@kunstmuseumbern.ch) to inquire about accessing these specific documents. Explain your research scope (artworks acquired since 1932, created before 1945).
3. Review the Documents: Once you gain access, you will need to meticulously go through the "Eingangsjournal für Kunstwerke", "Verzeichnis der Schenkungen und Legate", and the "Sitzungsprotokolle" to extract the relevant information. You would filter the entries by the "Eingangsdatum" (acquisition date) to be on or after 1932, and then by the "Datierung" or "Zeitraum" (creation date) of the artwork to be on or before 1945.

By leveraging these specific archival materials identified in the "Findmittel," you should be able to compile a comprehensive list of artworks meeting your criteria.

***

Provenance information for the Kunstmuseum Bern in a patchwork of  PDFs and the Gurlitt Nachlass site:


DER NACHLASS GURLITT

The database publishes all artworks and artefacts from the Cornelius Gurlitt Estate. It contains some 1,600 objects, including paintings, drawings, aquarelles, sculptures, and prints, as well as archaeological finds and works of Asian art. Most of the provenances (1000+) have gaps and uncertainties for the Nazi years.



Bequest of Cornelius Gurlitt: Decisions by the Foundation of the Kunstmuseum Bern

This "News" page from the Commission for Looted Art in Europe details the Kunstmuseum Bern's approach to the Cornelius Gurlitt bequest. It explains the "Provenance Traffic Light" system (red, yellow-green, yellow-red, green categories) for classifying artworks based on provenance certainty during the Nazi era (1933-1945)301. It outlines the museum's decisions regarding acceptance and restitution, ongoing research, adherence to international ethical principles like the Washington Principles and Terezín Declaration, and plans for transparency and scientific reappraisal.... It also lists some of the works from the Gurlitt bequest and the Kunstmuseum Bern's own collection that require further provenance research


Werkliste Sammlungspräsentation

This PDF lists artworks currently on display. The content changes.


"Wir machen uns auch angreifbar" - "We're also vulnerable"

This "News" page from the Commission for Looted Art in Europe includes an interview snippet with Marcel Brülhart (Member of the Board of Trustees of the Kunstmuseum Bern), who discusses the  provenance research project for 525 works, acknowledging the incompleteness and contradictions in existing internal source


Provenienzbericht Stand:2022-11-16

This PDF document is a provenance report from Kunstmuseum Bern, updated November 16, 2022 for 297 selected artworks



Provenienzbericht Stand:10/26/2020

This PDF is a provenance report from Kunstmuseum Bern, dated October 26, 2020,

https://archive.kunstmuseumbern.ch/admin/data/hosts/kmb/files/page_editorial_paragraph_file/file/1689/20201207_provenienzbericht-bak-gemalde-ill.pdf


Provenienzbericht Stand: 04.12.2024

KMB_BAK 2023-2024_Provenienzberichte.pdf

https://www.kunstmuseumbern.ch/de/api/files/2024-12/KMB_BAK_2023_2024_AB_Projekt%20RK.pdf


https://kmbzpk.nodehive.app/sites/default/files/2024-03/20201207_provenienzbericht-bak-gemalde-ill.pdf

Provenienzbericht 2016-2017

https://kmbzpk.nodehive.app/sites/default/files/2024-03/2016_2017_kmb_provenienzberichte.pdf



Provenance research on the legacy of Georges Frédéric Keller, 2019 – 2020

KMB_BAK_2023_2024_AB_Projekt

https://www.kunstmuseumbern.ch/de/api/files/2024-12/KMB_BAK_2023_2024_AB_Projekt%20RK.pdf


Kunstmuseum Bern: Jahresbericht 2024 

https://www.kunstmuseumbern.ch/de/api/files/2025-05/P100151_Jahresbericht_KMB_2024_web_3.pdf


German Lost Art Foundation: Kulturgüter aus dem Kunstfund Gurlitt

Thirteen artworks 


German Lost Art Foundation: Fundmeldung

21 artworks


Sammlung von Hermann und Margrit Rupf


***


Documents found in www.kunstmuseumbern.ch/en/node/1083 on 7/16/2025 at 5:50:37 AM

Information published by the Kunstmuseum Bern about restitutions and settlements

Documents found in www.kunstmuseumbern.ch/de/proven...ung/restitutionen on 7/16/2025 at 6:07:00 AM



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Jun 28, 2025

Heinemann and Mondschein (Frederick Mont) in provenances of artworks in American museums

El Greco - Portrait of a Gentleman, Julius Priester The El Greco looted in 1944 by the Nazi Gestapo from Julius Priester passed through Rudolf J. Heinemann, (1901 – February 7, 1975) and the business he owned, Pinakos, and Frederick Mont (aka Fritz Mondschein) and the gallery he owned, Galerie Sanct Lukas, before being identified. The provenance of the looted artwork was falsified, and it took more than seventy years to find it, claim it and obtain restitution (in 2015). 

The obvious question for museums to ask themselves is: which artworks in our collections passed through these individuals or their businesses and are there any provenance gaps or discrepancies that require further verification. 

 The number of questions marks "?" (49) and "probably" (41) and "possibly" (30) and "might have" or "may have" (12) suggests the presence of guesswork and speculation.

Below are a few of the artworks known to have passed through Heinemann or Mont. 
Read more »
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Jun 19, 2025

Questionable provenance research practices at Bavarian State Painting Collections

According to a June 17, 2025 article in  Süddeutsche Zeitung, the Bavarian State Painting Collections and the Ministry of Culture have been engaging in questionable provenance research practices concerning Nazi-looted art. Members of Parliament are asking questions and demanding answers (see  Süddeutsche Zeitung: Bayerns Umgang mit NS-Raubkunst: Taskforce „Nichtstun“ by Jörg Häntzschel) 

Questionable provenance research practices by the Bavarian State Painting Collections and the Ministry of Culture include:

•
Withholding findings and failing to inform heirs The museums kept most of their provenance research findings to themselves and did not inform the descendants of the Jewish collectors who had been robbed
•
Failure to publish works in the Lostart database Many works suspected of being looted art were not published in the Lostart database, despite the obligation to do so since 1998. While 598 works are now online, 222 of these were only added in the last four months, compared to 376 in the preceding 24 years.
•
Delay and obfuscation The Ministry and museums are accused of sticking to a course of delay and obfuscation regarding restitution.
•
Claiming that "claims where the claimants were known" were not entered into Lostart The State Painting Collections' spokesperson stated that works with known claimants were not entered into Lostart previously, as the database was intended for heir searches. This practice has since been changed for "maximum transparency," but it meant that works like Ernst Barlach's busts, whose heirs were known via Alfred Flechtheim's lawyer, were not listed.
•
Providing incorrect provenance histories online The provenance histories available online are not always accurate. For instance, it's suggested that Picasso's "Fernande" might have been purchased by the Wallraf-Richartz Museum, a crucial detail for the looted art question, yet documents indicate the museum never paid for it. This is considered a "trick to conceal Alfred Flechtheim's ownership".
•
Missing provenance information for some works For other works, such as Beckmann's "Portrait of Quappi in Blue," provenance histories are entirely missing from the Pinakotheken's online collection.
•
Using unusual classification standards The State Painting Collections reportedly used classification standards that are otherwise unusual.
•
Minimizing the forced nature of exchanges The State Painting Collections interpreted disparaging remarks by former Director General Ernst Buchner about "artistically indifferent" and "entirely dispensable" deposit pictures used in an exchange with the persecuted Jewish Lion brothers as mere "strategic formulations" related to his collection strategy, rather than evidence of the unfair value of the exchange or persecution-related confiscation.
•
Denying comprehensive access to files The Ministry explicitly denied comprehensive access to all files to the lawyer representing the Flechtheim heirs, stating it was "not necessary".
•
Lack of proactive communication with heirs The State Painting Collections never informed the Flechtheim heirs' lawyer about two Barlach busts, even though they knew he represented the heirs, and he only learned about them from Lostart.
•
Lack of transparency with owners regarding looted art suspicion Owners of works, such as the Friends of the Pinakothek der Moderne, were not informed for years that their paintings (e.g., Fernand Léger's "Le Typographe") were classified as suspected looted art, despite internal checks and classifications (yellow, then orange).
•

Minister deciding alone on restitutions Unlike most other federal states in Germany, the minister in Bavaria decides alone on restitutions, which raises questions about transparency and process.
----
(summary constructed in English with NotebookLLM)
from source:

 Süddeutsche Zeitung: Bayerns Umgang mit NS-Raubkunst: Taskforce „Nichtstun“ 17. Juni 2025

Bayerns Kunstminister Blume versprach nach dem Skandal um Raubkunst an den Staatsgemäldesammlungen eine „neue Ära der Wiedergutmachung“. Doch sein Ministerium und die Museen scheinen am Kurs des Verzögerns und Verschleierns festzuhalten.

Von Jörg Häntzschel

https://www.sueddeutsche.de/kultur/bayerische-staatsgemaeldesammlungen-ns-raubkunst-blume-verzoegern-li.3270455?reduced=true

see English translation at 

See also:

Facing accusations of hiding Nazi loot, Bavaria pledges more research and greater transparency, The Art Newspaper https://www.theartnewspaper.com/2025/02/26/facing-accusations-hiding-nazi-loot-bavaria-pledges-more-research-greater-transparency

NS-Raubkunst-Skandal in Bayern: Verheimlicht und verschleppt https://taz.de/NS-Raubkunst-Skandal-in-Bayern/!6070973/

Jüdische Erben: »Bayern hat uns betrogen« - Claims Conference spricht von »Vertrauensbruch« https://www.juedische-allgemeine.de/kultur/juedische-erben-bayern-hat-uns-betrogen-claims-conference-spricht-von-vertrauensbruch/










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May 31, 2025

Knoedler's ledgers: mapping missing entry dates and seller names

 


data source: Getty Provenance Index GitHub Knoedler file  13 Dec 2017

(analysis performed  on CSV file before GPI remodel)

Note:  Transactions prior to 1925 or in the Stockbooks 1-7 have been removed from this file, reducing the number of transactions from 40,250 to 13,809.  This enables us to focus on the years 1928 to 1970.

Three huge spikes in activity pop out: 1951, 1928 and 1942. But before we examine what happened in those years to create such a spike, we must deal with a problem of missing data.

Of the above transactions, 1,746 lack an entry date year. That's over 10%! More than even our highest peak!

What to do? Data scientists often "clean" datasets by eliminating rows with incomplete data. That is exactly what we will NOT do. Instead of eliminating these rows of incomplete data from our data set, we will focus on them. 

Why are these 1,746 transactions missing the entry date year? Do they have anything else in common?

What other indicators might supply us with the missing information? Proxies, in short, for the entry date year. (Names associated with specific date ranges, for example).


The Stock Book Numbers 1928-1970



The Stock Book Numbers for transactions with no Entry Date Year


We see that most of the missing years are from Stock Book 11.  

What else can we learn about the profile of the missing dates? We can compare the most frequent nationalities of all transactions 1928-1970 



to the nationalities of the transactions missing entry date years:


The largest contingent are American.  We don't understand this but will file it away, hoping that it might Make sense later.


What about the sellers? And here we are in for a bit of a surprise.


Of the 1,746 transactions that have no entry year, the vast majority - 1,481 - also have no seller.


What kind of ledgers are these that Knoedler was keeping, with neither year nor seller? 

Which ledgers are most concerned by this double absence?




With 1,469 mysterious transactions, it's Stock Book 11. 

Who are the joint owners listed in Book 11 ledger entrees which have no entry date or seller name?

(filter: Joint owner appear at least twice)

Joint Own Auth 1

Count

Knoedler Numbers in Book 11

Pinakos, Inc. (Rudolf Heinemann)

84

A6420, A5321, A4774, A6680, A5326, A5434, A1825, A1834, A1845, A1849, A1943, A1944, A1945, A1946, A2523, A2730, A2770, A2774, A2795, A2964, A3026, A3029, A3044, A3049, A3274, A3292, A3300, A3312, A3527, A5250, A5286, A5467, A5469, A5515, A5624, A5708, A5730, A4542, A4824, A4839, A4840, A4843, A4844, A4849, A4851, A4854, A4898, A4920, A4937, A4940, A4955, A5117, A5213, A5944, A5948, A5960, A5963, A5964, A5965, A5982, A6010, A6122, A6777, A6679, A6593, A6548, A6530, A6501, A6500, A6430, A6415, A6318, A6310, A6299, A6295, A6294, A7059, A6998, A6970, A6932, A7109, A5602, A5603, A6826

Hirschl & Adler Galleries

37

A3815, A4107, A3884, A3886, A3873, A3875, A3876, A3880, A3882, A3883, A3885, A3888, A5284, A5319, A5560, A5561, A5737, A5738, A5788, A5806, A5807, A5928, A6102, A6738, A6727, A6726, A6722, A6721, A6704, A6651, A7047, A7046, A7021, A7005, A7004, A6972, A7125

Spark, Victor David

25

A6144, A3188, A5745, A4448, A4923A, A4923C, A4923D, A4923H, A4923I, A4923K, A4923L, A4923M, A4923O, A4923P, A4923Q, A4923R, A4923S, A4923T, A4923W, A5016, A6013, A6018, A6138, A6145, A6147

Berggruen (Heinz), Galerie & Cie

23

A5750, A6640, A7031, A7030, A7029, A6899, A7119, A7120, A6070, A6073, A6114, A6112, A6150, A7018, A7017, A7016, A7015, A6844, A6843, A6443, A6350, A6347, A6641

Schempp, (Theodore), & Co.

13

A6934, A5188, A6684, A7066, A7002, A7001, A7000, A6942, A6939, A6935, A7116, A7130, A7131

Kennedy Galleries, Inc.

13

A4936, A7127, A7128, A7129, A5581, A6272, A6273, A6274, A7124, A7135, A5074, A5075, A6669

Fine Arts Associates

11

A5304, A5209, A6764, A6739, A7039, A6869, A7114, A7115, A7133, A7134, A6922

The A.B. Closson Jr. Co.

9

A5079, A5080, A5082, A5083, A5085, A5086, A5087, A5088, A5089

Betty McLean Gallery

9

A5288, A5290, A5291, A5292, A5294, A5299, A4684, A4685, A5055

E. and A. Milch

7

A3655, A3855, A3857, A3858, A4635, A6824, A7136

Marlborough-Gerson Gallery

7

A7078, A7080, A7082, A7081, A7083, A7077, A7079

Pearlman, Henry

6

A7086, A7087, A7089, A7090, A7091, A7088

Kleemann Galleries

6

A4617, A6432, A6391, A6390, A6332, A6331

De Hauke & Co.

5

A6763, A7100, A7101, A7103, A7110

Frank Perls Gallery

5

A6506, A6230, A6762, A6743, A6435

Balay, Roland

5

A3834, A3835, A3836, A3837, A3838

Latendorf Bookshop

5

A6249, A6250, A6251, A6252, A6253

Agnew's

5

A5435, A6098, A6099, A6228, A7056

Old Print Shop, The

4

A5714, A5716, A5718, A4672E

Weitzner, Julius H.

4

A6921, A5703, A6534, A6929

Charell, Ludwig

3

A6379, A6378, A6377

Babcock Galleries

3

A3413, A3661, A5072

Galerie les Tourettes (Otto Wertheimer)

2

A5281, A7117

John F. Fleming Rare Book Co.

2

A6388, A6387

Galerie des Arts Anciens et Modernes

2

A6135, A6313

SUTTON, HILDA

2

A3383, A3395

Louis Leon and Co.

2

A6801, A6525

Michelotti, M.

2

A5320, A4049

Ward Eggleston Galleries

2

A5991, A5992

Kernochan, Katherine Lorillard

2

A2144, A2145

Ackermann, (Arthur), and Son

2

A3600, A2556

Frederick A. Stern Inc.

2

A3068, A3206

Weil, (André), Galerie

2

A6701, A6795

STRÖLIN, ALFRED

2

A6478, A6477

Abdy, Robert Henry Edward, Sir, 5th Bart.

2

A7009, A6967

Colnaghi's

2

A1982, A3060

Where else do these Knoedler numbers appear? What do they tell us?



Can the recent publication of the new Getty Provenance Index on linked data principles help us to go further in the analysis of the information that is missing from the original Knoedler ledgers? How might we do this?

tbc...

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