With its Online Collection, the Bayerische Staatsgemäldesammlungen (Bavarian State Painting Collections) is making its entire holdings accessible to the public for the first time: that’s 25,000 artworks in Bavaria, Germany and Europe viewable on a single platform! It is now possible to have an overview not only of all the artworks on display in the Munich galleries – the Alte and Neue Pinakothek, the Sammlung Moderne Kunst in the Pinakothek der Moderne, the Museum Brandhorst and the Sammlung Schack – and in the other state galleries of Bavaria (several thousand works in total), but also of works in the museum storerooms (17,000 works) and more than 4000 works on permanent loan from the Munich collections to over 400 sites, some belonging to institutions which are only partly open to the public.
Every artwork is documented with a photograph, basic information (catalogue/accession number, artist, title, support, size, provenance), and details of its location. The relevant specialist area is also given, to assist with classification.
Information about all the works currently on display is fully up-to-date and reliable. In the case of other works, and works in storage or on permanent loan, the information is usually based on the available catalogue data.
The Online Collection is a live medium; it is constantly being updated and, if necessary, corrected. As in the case of most online publications, the view date should always be included with any information quoted or referenced.
Because the holdings are so large and so widely dispersed, it is not possible to show all the works in colour. Up until roughly ten years ago, black-and-white photography was the norm at the Bayerische Staatsgemäldesammlungen, as in many other museums. Since then, black-and-white photographs have gradually been replaced by colour photos, and missing images supplied.
To our great regret, copyright protection prevents us from publishing images of some works by 20th and 21st century artists.
The accession numbers are far more than mere administrative reference numbers. They contain important information about the history of the artwork concerned.
One- to five-digit numbers are state inventory numbers. Numbers 1 to 7590 belong to works already in the collection by 1856, when the collection was re-catalogued; the numbering system introduced then is still in use today. By 1900, inv. no. 8170 had been reached; state acquisitions between 1933 and 1945 have inv. nos. 9869 to 10921 (or, in the case of works of sculpture, B 179 to B 258); at the moment, numbers in the 16000s are being allocated.
Gaps in the numbering indicate that items are no longer in the collection: loans which have been returned, works which have been sold, war losses, restitutions.
The most important groups of holdings are:
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AK |
Endowed by the estate of Alexander Koester |
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B |
Sculpture |
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BGM |
Bayerische Gemeindebank München (now: BayernLB) |
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EF |
Endowed by Sofie and Emanuel Fohn |
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ESK |
Ernst von Siemens Art Foundation |
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FV |
Patrons society: Pinakotheks-Verein zur Förderung der Alten und Neuen Pinakothek |
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GST |
Patrons society: Museumsstiftung zur Förderung der staatlichen Bayerischen Museen (formerly Stiftung des Galerievereins) |
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GV |
PIN. (formerly Galerieverein) |
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GW |
Legacy of Theodor and Woty Werner: drawings and prints |
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HST |
Works placed in the museum’s custody. A highly heterogeneous group of almost 1000 works, of very diverse provenance, is currently under the custodianship the Bayerische Staatsgemäldesammlungen. Legal title to these works is unclear. Nevertheless, selected groups are published on this website: a.) 211 works, not consecutively numbered, discovered by the Allies in the Haus der Kunst in 1945. They were registered at the Central Collecting Point and placed for safekeeping in the storerooms of the Bayerische Staatsgemäldesammlungen at 10 Arcisstrasse (now Katharina-von Bora-Strasse). Owners could be found for only a few of the works. They are ideologically conformist works of the Nazi period. The paintings were only catalogued and photographed in around 1970. b.) 280 works, not consecutively numbered, from the storerooms at 10 Arcisstrasse (now Katharina-von Bora-Strasse), whose owners could not be ascertained; their origin is unknown. They were not catalogued and photographed until around 1970. Some of them may have been left over when the Central Collecting Point and the trust administration closed, in which case they may be Nazi-looted artworks. It is also possible, however, that they were placed in the museum’s custody during the Second World War by private collectors and, for a variety of reasons, never reclaimed at the end of the war. c.) With the exception of the Fritz Winter Foundation, no other works placed in the museum’s custody by private owners are included in the Online Collection, since the Bayerische Staatsgemäldesammlungen does not have ownership or copyright over them. |
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HUW |
Bayerische Hypotheken- und Wechselbank (now UniCredit) |
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KM |
Programm der Bayerischen Staatsregierung für Künstler und Publizisten (Bavarian State Programme for Artists and Journalists) |
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L |
Works on loan |
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MES |
Michael and Eleonore Stoffel Foundation |
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OG |
Estate of Olaf Gulbransson |
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SAP |
Siemens Arts Program |
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TW |
Theodor and Woty Werner Bequest |
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UAB |
Udo and Anette Brandhorst Foundation |
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WAF |
Wittelsbach Compensation Fund (established 1923; formerly the private property of the Bavarian royal family |
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WAF PF |
Wittelsbach Compensation Fund, Collection of Duke (formerly Prince) Franz von Bayern |
Particularly in the case of Old Masters, changing perceptions and new knowledge are constantly leading to re-attributions. After a time, these are usually revised. This is particularly true of the large number of anonymous works in the collection, whose artists are designated only by their nationality (“German”, “French”, etc.) or by their most famous work (“Master of the Heisterbach Altarpiece”, etc.).
In our museums and on our website, you will encounter numerous artworks that carry historical titles. Some of these titles contain discriminatory, racist or marginalising terms and phrases. Such titles inevitably belong to the history of our collection and its reception contexts. We have a responsibility to deal with them in a sensitive and critical way, especially in cases where we consider them to be problematic. This is why we have chosen to adjust certain titles while retaining and commenting on others, in order to take them into account when we discuss art and its historical, social and political implications. Museums represent transparency and tolerance, inclusion and diversity. These values guide us throughout our educational programs, exhibitions and events.
The picture titles are not based on a predefined lexicon. The same painting may therefore be known by two or more names. Often it makes sense to retain traditional titles, even when these are at variance with the latest scholarship or do not correspond with what is actually depicted. This must be taken into account when searching the catalogue, especially in the case of the collections’ many portraits. Whatever the artistic quality of the painting, the sitter’s identity may not be known with absolute certainty and corrections may be necessary every so often.
If the year is given, it means that the work is firmly dated. For undated works, approximate earliest and latest possible dates are given. Where no date is given at all, this may mean that no consensus on dating has yet been reached.
For Old Masters, if no chemical analyses have been conducted to give a clear indication of the pigment binder, as a rule only the material of the support is given. Even where “oil” is indicated, this may not have been the only medium used.
For paintings, the dimensions are usually given as height x width in centimetres; for drawings, prints and photographs, measurements are in millimetres; for sculptures, the dimension of depth is also given. In the case of photographs, separate measurements are usually indicated for the image size and the size of the photographic paper.
Since 1999 the Provenance Research Department has been researching the former ownership of all works of art in the Bayerische Staatsgemäldesammlungen (Bavarian State Painting Collections) that were created before 1945 and acquired after 1933. In total, it has dealt with around 6,000 of the 25,000 works that meet these criteria and are, therefore, being examined as to whether they could be Nazi looted artworks. This research is being carried out on the basis of the ‘Washington Declaration’ formulated in 1998 at the ‘Conference on Holocaust Era Assets’ held in Washington, and the ‘Joint Declaration by the Federal Government, the Länder (Federal States) and the National Associations of Local Authorities’ subsequently issued in 1999.
In September 2022 a start will be made to integrate provenance data in the online collection of the Bayerische Staatsgemäldesammlungen. Acquisitions made during the Nazi era and objects that were taken on by the Bayerische Staatsgemäldesammlungen after World War II from the expropriated assets of NSDAP functionaries and organizations are to be given priority. Provenance data is based on systematic initial checks during which – depending on the holdings – sources such as literature, purchase records, picture files, databases and documents from the Central Collecting Point are evaluated, as well as the reverse side of pictures, as appropriate. This work is being carried out in accordance with the guidelines for the standardisation of provenance data provided by the Arbeitskreis Provenienzforschung e.V. [www.arbeitskreis-provenienzforschung.org/arbeitsgruppen/ag-standardisierung]. Through the continuous investigations being made and the new information sources tapped, provenance research is a dynamic discipline. Provenance data is updated as quickly as possible when new sources or findings on works published online become known.
Ideally, the data documents the provenance of the object from the time of its creation until its entry into the holdings of the Bayerische Staatsgemäldesammlungen. It contains – as far as it can be ascertained – the following:
- First and last names or name of institution, dates of birth and death and place of residence of the owner(s);
- Dates of changes of ownership;
- How acquired or how change of ownership came about.
Successive owners are shown on a new line respectively.
Gaps in the the list of owners are indicated by the words ‘Whereabouts unknown’.
Finally, if applicable, a reference to the Lostart website follows, on which the Bayerische Staatsgemäldesammlungen have uploaded more than 500 works.
Questions/Contact:
Why can’t I find provenance data on all artworks?
- The work does not meet both criteria: created before 1945 / acquired after 1933. This applies, for example, to old holdings in the collection or to modern works of art.
- The work has not yet been processed for publication online.
For queries, comments, and information on a work’s provenance, please contact the Provenance Research team at: provenienz@pinakothek.de.
Information about the location of the artworks is limited to details of the institution where they are to be found. Paintings on public display are marked “on view”. Works on permanent loan to public institutions (ministries, embassies, municipal institutions, etc.) are simply marked “Bayerische Staatsgemäldesammlungen München”, since for obvious reasons access to them is only possible in cases of a proven professional interest and can only be arranged via the Bayerische Staatsgemäldesammlungen.
Details of the specialist area responsible for each artwork helps to categorise it in the absence of dates and also indicates where any enquiries should be addressed:
Early German painting
1300–1550
Early Netherlandish painting
1300–1550
German 2
1550–1780
Flemish painting
1550–1780
French painting
1400–1780
Dutch painting
1550–1780
Italian painting
1300–1780
Spanish painting
1500–1780
19th century
1780–1900
20th/21st century
1900–today