Bührle: Provenance Drawers

What is provenance research?

The term provenance stems from the Latin “provenire” and refers in general to an object’s property and ownership history. Provenance research investigates the origins of cultural assets and critically examines historical acquisition circumstances. More specifically, it inquires into cultural policy, acquisitions for private and public collections, and transnational involvement in the transfer of cultural assets, in particular the illegitimate transfer of cultural property under colonial rule and National Socialism. Ideally, all changes of ownership and location from the time of the object’s making to the respective present are reconstructed. Provenance research can thus contribute to the recognition of the former owners’ persecution and victimization histories.

Provenance research is one of the core responsibilities of every institution in possession of cultural assets. The ethical guidelines of the International Council of Museums ICOM stipulate that, before acquisition, museums must, with

"due diligence, […] establish the full history of the item since discovery or production."

Washington Principles and Declaration of Terezín

The Washington Principles (“Washington Conference Principles on Nazi-Confiscated Art”) form the basis for provenance research on Nazi-looted art. Adopted in 1998 with the cooperation of Switzerland, they are a set of legally non-binding principles aimed at finding a “just and fair solution” with the heirs to the former owners of looted objects. As a consequence of the Washington Conference, the Swiss Federal Council set up a “Contact Bureau on Looted Art” in the Federal Office of Culture in 1999.

The 2009 Declaration of Terezín (“Terezin Declaration on Holocaust Era Assets and Related Issues”) expanded the definition of the term “looted art” to include forced sales and other measures carried out under duress. This was to ensure that cultural assets sold within the context of Nazi persecution also be subject to rulings based on the Washington Principles.

The concept of “just and fair solutions” encompasses a broad spectrum of possible measures, from public recognition by the museum of the circumstances surrounding the dispossession to financial compensation to the return (restitution) of the work in question.

Image captions:

• International Day of Provenance Research at the Kunsthaus Zürich, April 2018.
  Photo: Franca Candrian, Kunsthaus Zürich
• Provenienzforschung im Museum I: NS-Raubgut. Grundlagen und Einführung in die Praxis, Verband der Museen der Schweiz, Zurich 2021
• ICOM – International Council of Museums, Code of Ethics for Museums, Berlin 2010
• “‘Der grösste Raub der Weltgeschichte’: Konferenz über die Vermögenswerte der Holocaust-Ära eröffnet”, in: Neue Zürcher Zeitung, 2 December 1998
• “Washington Conference Principles on Nazi-Confiscated Art”, published in conjunction with the Washington Conference on Holocaust Era Assets, Washington, DC, 3 December 1998

It was Lynn H. Nicholas who, in 1994, in her book "The Rape of Europe", first publicized the key role played by Switzerland as a trading hub for looted art during the Nazi era. What ultimately brought the subject to the centre of public interest, however, was a debate over the dormant assets of Nazi persecution victims in Swiss bank accounts and the Swiss national bank's gold transactions with the Nazi state. From 1996 onwards, the “Independent Commission of Experts Switzerland – Second World War” (also known as the Bergier Commission) formed by the Swiss government was the foremost body devoted to examining the role of Switzerland in World War II. The commission inquired into the business activities of Swiss banks, the country’s refugee policies at the time, and its economic relations to the Axis Powers, but also carried out in-depth investigations of the transfer of cultural assets and trade with looted art. In the context of this research, the term “flight assets” was introduced as an analytical concept to the Swiss discourse on Nazi-looted art.

Swiss cultural policy would come to interpret the term “flight assets” in contradistinction to “looted assets”. It thus proved possible to use the term to refute restitution claims to so-called flight asset works by arguing that the sales had been transacted voluntarily, lawfully, and at fair prices in a safe third-party country. This interpretation has been the subject of criticism since 2009 and the Declaration of Terezín, if not before. That declaration refers to artworks sold under duress as looted art.

In 2014, Cornelius Gurlitt bequeathed his collection to the Kunstmuseum Bern. Comprising more than 1,600 works, the collection had belonged to his father Hildebrand Gurlitt, who had dealt in art on behalf of the Nazi regime. The acceptance of the legacy led to a German-Swiss collaboration on an inquiry into the works’ origins, as well as to the establishment of a department of provenance research at the Kunstmuseum Bern. In 2022/23, the museum staged its third exhibition – Taking Stock: Gurlitt in Review –on the investigation of the bequest.

The debates on the Gurlitt legacy brought in their wake the institutional professionalization of provenance research in Switzerland. Since 2016, the Federal Office of Culture has provided financial support to museums and collections for provenance research. In April 2020, scholars from museums, archives, and libraries as well as universities and the art market joined to form the Swiss Provenance Research Association. The association currently has approximately 75 members.

At the political level, the topic of provenance research has come increasingly into focus in Switzerland. In response to the debate surrounding the presentation of the Emil Bührle collection at the Kunsthaus, for example, Jon Pult, a member of the National Council of the Social Democratic Party (SP), put forward a motion for the formation of an “independent commission for cultural assets confiscated in the context of Nazi persecution". The parliament passed the motion in September 2022 and the Federal Office of Culture is currently preparing a draft for the commission’s formation.

Image captions:

• Lynn H. Nicholas, “Der Raub der Europa: Das Schicksal europäischer Kunstwerke im Dritten Reich”, Munich, 1995, Kunsthaus Zürich, Library
• Esther Tisa Francini, Anja Heuss, Georg Kreis, “Fluchtgut – Raubgut: Der Transfer von Kulturgütern in und über die Schweiz 1933–1945 und die Frage der Restitution, ed. by Unabhängige Expertenkommission Schweiz – Zweiter Weltkrieg”, vol. 1, Zurich, 2001, Kunsthaus Zürich, Library
• View of the exhibition "Taking Stock: Gurlitt in Review", Kunstmuseum Bern, 16 September 2022 – 15 January 2023, Photo: Rolf Siegenthaler, Kunstmuseum Bern
• View of the exhibition "Gurlitt: Status report 'Degenerate Art' – Confiscated and Sold", Kunstmuseum Bern, 2 February 2017 – 4 March 2018, Photo: Kunstmuseum Bern
• “Bund unterstützt Forschung zur Herkunft von Raubkunst”, in: Walliser Bote, 26 January 2016
• Press release, Swiss Association of Provenance Research on its founding day, 8 April 2020, Zurich.
• Motion, Independent commission for cultural assets confiscated in the context of Nazi persecution, Jon Pult (SP), 9 Dezember 2021

Kunsthaus Zürich: Provenance research to date

Since the time of its founding in 1910, the Kunsthaus Zürich has documented the provenances of its collection holdings as part of the history of each object. It was in 2007 that the museum first published this information in a complete catalogue of paintings and sculptures.

In 2010 and 2012, respectively, the museum successfully arrived at “just and fair solutions” in keeping with the Washington Principles for two paintings by Albert von Keller identified as Nazi-looted art. The painting "Madame La Suire" had belonged to the Jewish art collector Alfred Sommerguth. Shortly before the outbreak of World War II, the National Socialist authorities in Berlin put it up for compulsory sale by auction. In 2010, Sommerguth’s heirs generously decided to donate the painting to the Kunsthaus Zürich. As per the agreement, the work will be accompanied by a reference to Sommerguth whenever it is placed on display. The Nazis seized the other work by Alfred von Keller, "Nude on a Beach / Evening", from the collection of Jean and Ida Baer around 1940. In 2012, an agreement with the heirs and aid from the Hannelore Müller bequest enabled the museum to acquire this work as well.

Thanks to support from the Federal Office of Culture (FOC), the Kunsthaus has taken its provenance research efforts to a new level since 2017. In 2019 the museum created a salaried position for provenance research. Since then, the provenances of the collection holdings have been systematically investigated in keeping with international standards and without bias as to the result, and published successively in the Online Collection. Several sub-projects have been carried out – in part with FOC funding – since 2016, including the online publication of the provenances of the works in the collection of paintings and sculptures, an inquiry into the acquisitions by the collection of prints and drawings in the years 1933–1950, and the provenances of the donations from Leopold Ruzicka (1949), Nelly Bär (1968), and Walter Haefner (1973–1995). A project to publish the letterpress copybooks (the museum’s outgoing correspondence) of the years 1933–1945, which are part of the Kunsthaus’s extensive archival holdings, has also been carried to completion. In 2019, the museum moreover mounted its first presentation on provenance research within the framework of the exhibition Hour Zero. Art from 1933 to 1955.

The following two drawers contain further information on the Kunsthaus’s current provenance research activities.

State of research 2007 vs. 2023: Closed gaps, new questions

The two sets of provenance details on "View from the Dunes to the Sea" of ca. 1655 by Jacob van Ruisdael shed light on the progress the Kunsthaus Zürich has made in its provenance research efforts over the past years. The painting was researched in depth within the framework of the project on the donations from Ruzicka, Bär, and Haefner (2021–2023), leading to important new insights regarding the years 1924–1949. For example, evidence was found proving that the German authorities confiscated the painting in Berlin in 1942 and that, after World War II, the Allies classified it as looted art and took it to the Central Collecting Point in Wiesbaden. The collecting point had been set up to facilitate the return of cultural assets confiscated in the context of Nazi persecution. From there it was immediately restituted to Galerie Paul Cassirer via Holland.

However, two questions have remained unanswered: it is not yet known when the Jewish art dealer Kurt Walter Bachstitz was in possession of the painting or under what circumstances it changed hands before being confiscated from the Haberling forwarding company in Berlin in 1942. Seizure in conjunction with Nazi persecution can therefore currently not be ruled out, and in-depth research on the painting continues.

Image captions:

• Stolperstein for Ida Baer, who was murdered by the Nazis in 1942. Stübbenstrasse 1, Berlin. CC BY-SA 3.0
• Albert von Keller, "Adele von Le-Suire", Standing, ca. 1887, oil on canvas, 111 x 49 x 2.5 cm. Seized from Alfred Sommerguth by the Nazis in 1939, donated by his heirs and Hannelore Müller in 2010, Kunsthaus Zurich, in. no. AvK 238.A
• View of the exhibition "Hour Zero. Art from 1933 to 1955", Kunsthaus Zürich, 7 June – 22 September 2019, Photo: Franca Candrian, Kunsthaus Zürich
• Jacob van Ruisdael, "View from the Dunes to the Sea", ca. 1655, oil on canvas, 26 x 35 cm: EntryExcerpts from the Online Collection, 30 June 2023 with provenance details, from: "Gesamtkatalog der Gemälde und Skulpturen", ed. by Christian Klemm et al., responsible for the publication: Zürcher Kunstgesellschaft, Ostfildern, 2007. Excerpts from the Online Collection, 30 June 2023

New contracts, new responsibility

The Zürcher Kunstgesellschaft and the Foundation E. G. Bührle Collection signed the first permanent loan contract for the Emil Bührle Collection back in 2012. Over the course of the collection’s transfer to the Kunsthaus Zürich’s new extension – the structure designed by Sir David Chipperfield – public criticism was voiced and debates ensued, ultimately leading to the conclusion of a new permanent loan contract between the Zürcher Kunstgesellschaft and the Foundation E. G. Bührle Collection in 2022. Among other items, the new contract contains the foundation’s explicit commitment to the Washington Principles and the Declaration of Terezín. It also specifies that, following the finalization of the report by Raphael Gross, the Zürcher Kunstgesellschaft will be responsible for the further research on the provenance of the works in the collection. This provenance is to be presented along with historical contextualization and information on the current state of the research. Such contracts are usually confidential and not accessible to the public. As an exception, however, the new contract has been published and can be viewed in this drawer, on the book table at the end of the exhibition as well as online.

In 2022, the Zürcher Kunstgesellschaft moreover signed a new subsidy contract with the City of Zurich. In that agreement, the Zürcher Kunstgesellschaft pledged to take the term “cultural property confiscated as a result of Nazi persecution” as its orientation in its provenance research efforts. Sales of artworks by emigrants in third-party countries outside the area of Nazi rule, for example Switzerland, can also fall within the meaning of the term. This development is taking place against the backdrop of a far-reaching social and political debate which is to be conducted nationwide and involve a diverse range of voices. Museums such as the Kunstmuseum Bern, the Kunstmuseum Basel, and the Kunsthaus Zürich are contributing to this debate by updating their strategies for dealing with “cultural property confiscated as a result of Nazi persecution”.

Image captions:

• New loan contract of 24 February 2022 between the Zürcher Kunstgesellschaft and the Foundation E. G. Bührle Collection. Use the QR-Code in the drawer to access the whole contract.
• The presentation of the Emil Bührle Collection at the Kunsthaus Zürich on the occasion of the museum’s reopening, 2021, Photo: Franca Candrian, Kunsthaus Zürich
• Archive of the Foundation E. G. Bührle Collection in the Kunsthaus Zürich, 2021. Photo: Franca Candrian, Kunsthaus Zürich
• Subsidy contract of 25 February 2022 between the City of Zurich and the Zürcher Kunstgesellschaft. Use the QR-Code in the drawer to access the whole contract. 

New strategy, new challenges

In March 2023, under the leadership of the new president and the new director, the board of the Zürcher Kunstgesellschaft and the administration of the Kunsthaus Zürich adopted a provenance research strategy building on strategies already in place in other Swiss museums. Among other aspects, it encompasses the systematic review of new acquisitions and loans, a transparent and solution-oriented perspective on sales that took place outside the sphere of Nazi control, as well as a proactive approach where there are suspicions of cultural property confiscated as a result of Nazi persecution and, where the circumstances are clear, a firm approach. On the same occasion, the decision was made to expand the staff of the provenance research department. With internal resources as well as aid from the Federal Office of Culture (BAK), two new positions were created. The government council of Zurich Canton moreover approved a substantial sum from the Zurich Cultural Fund for provenance research at the Kunsthaus.

Currently (2023–2024) a project is being carried out with support from the FOC. Here the concern is with examining the acquisitions of paintings and sculptures in the years 1946–1960. In addition, works for which there are indications of unlawful seizure by the Nazis or whose acquisitions were accompanied by suspicious circumstances are being researched in greater depth.

New provenance categories

The Kunsthaus Zürich classifies the provenance of its works according to the categories developed by the Kunstmuseum Bern (Berner Ampel, 2021). Based on the tricoloured traffic light, the categories “yellow-green” and “yellow-red” are dynamic and permit qualitative classifications for works with incomplete provenances. “Yellow-green” stands for “no indications of Nazi-looted art” and “yellow-red” for “indications of Nazi-looted art”. This distinction makes it possible to reflect changing insights over the course of the research in an appropriate manner. Categorization as “yellow-red” can moreover serve as a basis for a just and fair solution as set forth by the Washington Principles of 1998.

The classification is published in the Online Collection and also appears in the collection display rooms, where works whose provenance is undergoing research are marked.

Image captions:

• New Kunsthaus Zürich provenance research strategy of 14 March 2023
• New categorization of provenance based on the “Berner Ampel” of the Kunstmuseum Bern
• Two examples of the new labelling with the “Berner Ampel” for works in the Kunsthaus Zürich collection display rooms currently undergoing research

Provenance research methods

Provenance research at the museum usually begins with a close examination of the object. Of particular interest in the case of paintings is the back of the painting, which can exhibit various provenance indicators such as inscriptions, labels, or stamps. These indicators provide clues to former owners, exhibitions, customs proceedings, et cetera. However, it is not always possible to decipher or identify them.

The next step is to consult literature and archival sources on the object, as well as persons and/or institutions that dealt with it or owned it. Pointers to former owners or changes of ownership can be found in catalogues raisonnés and (annotated) exhibition and auction catalogues as well as invoices, inventory books, and correspondence. The following drawers contain a selection of sources relevant to the provenance research on Édouard Manet’s painting "La Sultane", which has been in the Emil Bührle Collection since 1953.

Based on these research steps, the provenance of the object is then reconstructed as completely as possible and historically contextualized.

Provenance indicators on the back of Manet’s painting "La Sultane"

The painting’s stretcher and canvas exhibit various partially unidentifiable inscriptions, stamps, and labels. The white collection label with a red border and red lettering points to the French art critic Roger Marx, whose family owned the painting until 1914 (1). The yellowed exhibition label shows that the work was on display at Galerie Matthiesen in Berlin in 1928 (2). Just weeks later, it was on view in the Manet exhibition at Galerie Bernheim-Jeune in Paris. The respective exhibition label also identifies the work’s then owner: Max Silberberg (3). The numerous custom stamps (here a French one) are a clear indication that the painting was shipped several times (4). Finally, there is a small, round label inscribed “3079” (5). This number corresponds to Galerie Paul Rosenberg’s inventory card for Manet’s "La Sultane" (see drawer C). It moreover illustrates that provenance indicators on a work can lead to the most complete provenance chain possible only when “read” in combination with other sources.

For conservatorial reasons the documents presented in the drawers are facsimiles of the originals.

Image captions:

• White, slightly detached label with red border of the Roger Marx Collection, inscribed: “COLLECTION / ROGER MARX”
• White label of the Manet exhibition of February 1928 at Galerie Matthiesen in Berlin, inscribed: “GALERIE MATTHIESEN / BERLIN W. 9, BELEVUESTRASSE 14 / MANET-AUSSTELLUNG 1928 / "La Sultane" / KATALOG-NR. 35”
• White label of the Manet exhibition at Galerie Bernheim-Jeune in Paris from 14 April to 4 May 1928, inscribed: “MM. BERNHEIM JEUNE / 83, RUE DU FAUBOURG ST-HONORE, PARIS-8e / Exposition / E. Manet / Appartenant à M. Silberberg / 1928”
• French customs stamp in black on back of canvas
• White Galerie Paul Rosenberg label with the work’s inventory number: “3079 / Manet / RHH”

"La Sultane" in the possession of Max Silberberg

The documents and exhibition catalogues on view here refer to Max Silberberg, who verifiably owned the painting "La Sultane" from 1928 to 1937.

The earliest indication that the art collector Max Silberberg of Breslau (Wroclaw) was interested in Manet’s "La Sultane" is a memo of the Justin Thannhauser art dealership. In January 1927, shortly after the opening of Thannhauser’s Berlin branch, Silberberg viewed the work there and “liked it very much” (1). To date, it has not been possible to determine who Silberberg bought the painting from or when. However, it is certain to have been in his possession by 1928. This can be deduced from the listing of “Die Sultanin” in the 1928 Galerie Matthiesen exhibition catalogue with the addition “Privatbesitz, Breslau” (“private property, Wroclaw”) (2). Just a few weeks later, from 14 April to 4 May 1928, the Parisian Galerie Bernheim-Jeune also staged a Manet exhibition (3). In conjunction with the respective exhibition label on the back of the painting, it is clear that Max Silberberg was the owner of this loan (4). Depending on the quality of the entries, catalogues raisonnés of artists’ oeuvres can provide further important indications of an artwork’s property circumstances and exhibition history. The catalogue raisonné Manet of 1932 by Paul Jamot and Georges Wildenstein likewise identifies Max Silberberg as the painting’s owner (5).

The painting "La Sultane" was presumably sent to Paris again – now to Galerie Paul Rosenberg – before the National Socialist accession to power on 30 January 1933. It remained the property of Max and Johanna Silberberg until 1937. Both were victims of the Nazi persecution of the Jews. Their son Alfred, who had managed to flee to England with his wife Gerta, received the last sign of life from his parents in late 1941, shortly before they were deported to the Theresienstadt concentration camp in May 1942 and murdered (6).

For conservatorial reasons the documents presented in the drawers are facsimiles of the originals.

Image captions:

• Memo on Max Silberberg’s inspection of the painting at Galerie Thannhauser, Berlin, 4 January 1927; facsimile from the Galerien Thannhauser holdings. A77, ZADIK | Zentralarchiv für deutsche und internationale Kunstmarktforschung, University of Cologne
• Exhibition catalogue "Édouard Manet", Galerie Matthiesen, Berlin: Elsner, 6 February – 18 March 1928, Kunsthaus Zürich, Library
• Exhibition catalogue "Exposition d'œuvres de Manet au profit des “Amis du Luxembourg”, Galerie Bernheim-Jeune, Paris, 14 April – 4 May 1928, Zentralinstitut für Kunstgeschichte, Munich
• Exhibition label of Galerie Bernheim-Jeune, Paris, on the back of the painting "La Sultane"
• Paul Jamot, Georges Wildenstein, "Catalogue raisonné Manet", vol. 1, Paris, 1932
  Paul Jamot, Georges Wildenstein, "Catalogue raisonné Manet", vol. 2, Paris, 1932
  Kunsthaus Zürich, Library
• Transcript of the letter from Max Silberberg to Alfred Silberberg, 1941.
  BR 3006 Nr. 24786 | Abteilung Rheinland |Landesarchiv NRW, Düsseldorf

"La Sultane" in the possession of Paul Rosenberg

The documents and exhibition catalogues on view here refer to Galerie Paul Rosenberg, where Édouard Manet’s painting "La Sultane" was to be found from (presumably) 1932/33 to 1953.

As the research currently stands, it is not clear when Max Silberberg sent "La Sultane" from Germany to Galerie Paul Rosenberg in Paris. He may have entrusted it to the art dealer as early as June 1932, when a portion of the Silberberg Collection (not including La Sultane) was offered for sale at an auction in Paris. In the inventory kept by Paul Rosenberg for newly arrived works, the painting was listed as no. 3079 (1). That inventory number is also found on the back of the painting (2).

In 1934, the painting was sent to New York for the exhibition Great French Masters of the Nineteenth Century organized by Paul Rosenberg in collaboration with Galerie Durand-Ruel. According to the catalogue entry, "La Sultane" was still the property of Max Silberberg at that point in time (3). The painting was shipped back to Europe after the exhibition and can be seen in a photo of the interior of Galerie Paul Rosenberg dating from 1935 (4).

Two years later, "La Sultane" passed into the possession of Galerie Paul Rosenberg. This can be inferred from the gallery’s stock book, which notes, among other information, the purchasing price of 17,800 US dollars and Max Silberberg as previous owner (5). To this day, no answers have been found to the question of whether Silberberg – who still lived in Germany – received that sum and, if so, was able to dispose of it freely. Paul Rosenberg, himself of Jewish descent, fled to the U.S. in 1940 to escape Nazi persecution. He managed to take "La Sultane" with him and in 1941 placed it on loan to the Person Hall Art Gallery in Chapel Hill, North Carolina for the exhibition From Ingres to Picasso (6).

For conservatorial reasons the documents presented in the drawers are facsimiles of the originals.

Image captions

• Galerie Paul Rosenberg photo inventory, Paris, no. 3079
  The Paul Rosenberg Archives, Museum of Modern Art, New York
• Galerie Paul Rosenberg label on the back of the painting "La Sultane"
• Catalogue of the exhibition Important Paintings by Great French Masters of the Nineteenth Century organized by the Paul Rosenberg and Durand-Ruel galleries and taking place at the Durand Ruel Galleries in New York from 12 February – 10 March 1934, Zentralinstitut für Kunstgeschichte, Munich
• The premises of Galerie Paul Rosenberg in 1935 with the painting "La Sultane" in the Exposition de tableaux du XIXe siècle dans un décor, Musée d'Orsay, Dist. RMN-Grand Palais / Patrice Schmidt
• Galerie Paul Rosenberg stock book, New York, no. 5106, Manet, "La Sultane"
  The Paul Rosenberg Archives, Museum of Modern Art, New York
• Exhibition catalogue "From Ingres to Picasso: Vth Annual U.N.C. Art Students' Exhibition, Person Hall Art Gallery of the University of North Carolina", Chapel Hill, May 1941, no. 10 “The Sultaness, or Young Woman in Oriental Costume”
  Courtesy of the Frick Art Reference Library, New York

"La Sultane" in the possession of Emil Bührle

The documents on display here bear reference to the collection of Emil Bührle, to which the painting belonged from 1952/53 until 1960, when it was transferred to the Foundation E. G. Bührle Collection.

In September 1952, Emil Bührle received an invoice from Galerie Paul Rosenberg & Co for Manet’s painting “La Sultane – Jeune femme en Costume oriental”. In addition to citing the price of 58,500 dollars the invoice also contains information on the work’s provenance and references to relevant literature (1). Bührle paid the invoice for 138,600 US dollars for three paintings, including "La Sultane", in September 1953.

Between 1948 and 1956, Bührle’s private secretary Walter Drack created file cards on the artworks. The cards contain the object details as well as information on related literature, exhibition history, and provenance (2).

In June 1958, two years after the death of Emil Bührle, the Kunsthaus Zürich’s Pfister building, which he had financed, was dedicated. The opening exhibition was the first public presentation of the Bührle Collection, featuring 321 works, among them Manet’s "La Sultane" (3–5).

In 1960 some 200 of the collection’s works were transferred to the Foundation E. G Bührle Collection. Until 2015, these works were on view in a private museum on the outskirts of Zurich. Since 2021, the collection has been on display in the Kunsthaus Zürich’s Chipperfield building in the form of a permanent loan.

In 2002, the Foundation E. G. Bührle Collection received an initial inquiry regarding the provenance of Manet’s painting "La Sultane" and the circumstances surrounding its acquisition. The inquiry was made on behalf of Gerta Silberberg. She was the daughter-in-law of Max Silberberg and survived the Holocaust in England. The foundation recently classified the provenance of the painting as unobjectionable. Its provenance research is presently being examined independently by the historian Raphael Gross. It is not known which works are being reviewed. The evaluation results will prospectively be available in the summer of 2024.

For conservatorial reasons the documents presented in the drawers are facsimiles of the originals.

Image captions:

• Invoices from Paul Rosenberg & Co, New York, to Emile Bührle, 22 September 1952 and 14 September 1953
  Kunsthaus Zürich, Archive Foundation E. G. Bührle Collection
• File card on the work "La Sultane" by Édouard Manet
  Kunsthaus Zürich, Archive Foundation E. G. Bührle Collection
• Exhibition Catalogue "Sammlung Emil G. Bührle: Festschrift zu Ehren von Emil G. Bührle zur Eröffnung des Kunsthaus-Neubaus und Katalog der "Sammlung Emil G. Bührle", Kunsthaus Zürich, 7 June – end of September 1958
  Kunsthaus Zürich, Library
• Opening exhibition of the new Kunsthaus Zürich extension in 1958
  Kunsthaus Zürich, Archive Foundation E. G. Bührle Collection
• Dedication of the Kunsthaus Zürich extension, 1958, l. to r.: Dieter Bührle, Franz Meyer-Stünzi (president of the Zürcher Kunstgesellschaft), Charlotte Bührle-Schalk, Federal Councillor Hans Streuli, Hortense Bührle.
  Kunsthaus Zürich, Archive Foundation E. G. Bührle Collection

Fair and just solutions with the legal successors of Max Silberberg

The works from the collection of Max Silberberg are today found in public collections all over the world. Since the 1990s, Gerta Silberberg, the sole heir, has successfully been demanding the return of works from public and private museums in Europe and the U.S. In 1999 the Stiftung Preußischer Kulturbesitz Berlin restituted the drawing "L’Olivette" by Vincent van Gogh, the oil painting "Self-Portrait with Yellow Hat" by Hans von Marées, and the trust-held pen-and-ink drawing "Woman with Shawl" by Caspar David Friedrich to the heir. All three works had either been purchased at the compulsory sale in 1935 or later confiscated by the Nazi authorities. Likewise in 1999, the Kunstmuseum Chur restituted the painting "Dutch Sewing School" by Max Liebermann, which had been purchased from Bruno Cassirer in Berlin as far back as the summer of 1934. In 2000, the Israel Museum restituted the work "Boulevard Montmartre, Spring" by Camille Pissarro; in this case the painting remained in the museum as a permanent loan. The Art Institute of Chicago reached an agreement with the heir in 2001 and paid her a sum of money for Gustave Courbet’s "Rock of Hautepierre". In numerous other cases of works from the collection of Max Silberberg, efforts to reach agreements satisfying the conditions of a “just and fair solution” as defined by the Washington Principles of 1998 have hitherto been unsuccessful.

Apart from Manet’s "La Sultane", another work from the Silberberg Collection is currently also in Switzerland: the painting "Stockhorn with Lake Thun" by Ferdinand Hodler, which is in the Kunstmuseum Gallen on loan from the Simon and Charlotte Frick Foundation. This work was sold at the compulsory sale at Graupe in Berlin in March 1935 and can be classified as Nazi-looted art. The restitution case was settled amicably between the foundation and Max Silberberg's legal successors in 2023. The painting will remain in the Kunstmuseum St. Gallen as a loan from the foundation.

Image captions:

• Matthias Frehner, “Ein Präzedenzfall: Das Kunstmuseum Chur restituiert ein Raubkunst-Bild”, in: Neue Zürcher Zeitung, 7 October 1999
• Beat Balzli, “Eine Frage der Moral”, in: FACTS: Das Schweizer Nachrichtenmagazin, 5 August 1999
• Presse release of the Kunstmuseum St. Gallen, 4 October 2023: “Meisterwerk bleibt in St. Gallen: Einigung über Ferdinand Hodlers ‘Thunersee mit Stockhornkette’ erzielt”

Round table and mandate Raphael Gross

In August 2022, the City and Canton of Zurich and the Zürcher Kunstgesellschaft appointed Felix Uhlmann to form a round table for the purpose of awarding a contract for the independent evaluation of the provenance research carried out by the Foundation E. G. Bührle Collection until that time.

The following persons made up the round table:

• Valérie Arato (Schweizerischer Israelitischer Gemeindebund)
• Tobia Bezzola (ICOM Schweiz) Konrad Bitterli (Vereinigung Schweizer Kunstmuseen)
• Thomas Buomberger (IG Transparenz)
• Yves Fischer (Bundesamt für Kultur)
• Moritz Hany (Assistent Delegierter)
• Tanja Hetzer (ehemalige Unabhängige Expertenkommission Schweiz – Zweiter Weltkrieg)
• Erich Keller
• Markus Knauss (IG Transparenz)
• Jacques Lande (Israelitische Cultusgemeinde Zürich)
• Ralph Lewin (Schweizerischer Israelitischer Gemeindebund)
• Tessa Rosebrock (Schweizerischer Arbeitskreis Provenienzforschung)
• Esther Tisa Francini (Schweizerischer Arbeitskreis Provenienzforschung)
• Felix Uhlmann (Delegierter)
• Benno Widmer (Bundesamt für Kultur)

On the recommendation of the round table, the historian Raphael Gross was commissioned with the independent review of the Foundation E. G. Bührle Collection’s provenance research. Gross is the president of the Deutsches Historisches Museum and has been a member of the German “Advisory Commission on the return of cultural property seized as a result of Nazi persecution, especially Jewish property” since 2016. He and his team are to examine and evaluate the provenance research conducted. Five to ten representative works will be subjected to more in-depth review. It is not known which works are being reviewed.

The final report by Raphael Gross will prospectively be submitted in the summer of 2024. On the basis of its findings, recommendations are to be drawn up for the further handling of the loans from the Foundation E. G. Bührle Collection. Once the final report has been published, the results of the review by Raphael Gross and his team will be accessible for viewing in the following drawers.

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• Mandate contract for evaluation of Foundation E.G. Bührle Collection provenance research