Since 1987, the Province of Salzburg has been carrying out checks on the provenance of controversial works of art in its collection. By order of the Province of Salzburg, the Provincial Archive has examined and published the inventory records of between 1942 and 1944, in order to clarify the process of acquisition at that time and the legal situation.
Publication: Fritz Koller,Das Inventarbuch der Landesgalerie Salzburg. 1942 – 1944. Salzburg 2000
Since 1987, the Province of Salzburg has checked the provenance of all the art objects in its museums.
In 1998, a publication was issued on the Residenzgalerie Salzburg collection exhibited during the period 1923 – 1938 as loans or acquisitions.
Reference: Gerhard Plasser, residenzfähig. Sammlungsgeschichte der Residenzgalerie Salzburg 1923 – 1938, Salzburg 1998
Commissioned by the Province of Salzburg, the provincial archive produced an edition (published in 2000) of the inventory register drawn up by art dealer Friedrich Welz between 1942 and 1944 for the art-works acquired by the National Socialist “Landesgalerie Salzburg”.
Reference: Fritz Koller, Das Inventarbuch der Landesgalerie Salzburg. 1942 – 1944. Salzburg 2000
Parallel to the Salzburg provincial archive’s research on the “Landesgalerie” inventory register, which lists Friedrich Welz’s acquisitions from 1942 until 1944, since 1998 the Residenzgalerie has carried out provenance research on those purchases by Welz which were not restituted after World War II, but remained in Salzburg museums; the results were published in 2007. The works in question date mainly from the 19th and 20th centuries (up to 1945).
Reference: Roswitha Juffinger, Gerhard Plasser, Salzburger Landessammlungen 1939 – 1955. Salzburg 2007
After the founding of the Rupertinum (now Museum der Moderne Salzburg), the remaining works dating from the first half of the 20th century, purchased by Welz during the war, were handed over to the Museum der Moderne. For restitutions implemented by the Museum der Moderne, see the Museum website.
