The provenance of a work of art is the history of its ownership from the moment of its creation to the present day. Knowing the ownership histories of works in its global collection is a critical part of the Dallas Museum of Art’s research mission, with important ethical and legal implications. To establish these histories, curators and researchers at the Museum consider a range of sources from the object itself to related documents that provide clues about a work’s past owners and the nature of the transfers from one owner to the next, such as purchase, gift, or exchange. Sources include, but are not limited to, labels or inscriptions on the object, deeds of gifts, invoices, auction and commercial gallery records, inheritance records, insurance documents, and exhibition and publication histories.   

The goal of provenance research is to provide a complete narrative that lists every individual or entity that ever owned the work, how it was acquired, and the full range of dates the work remained with each owner. Such unbroken histories of ownership, however, are quite rare, especially before the mid-20th century. Gaps in the provenance and chronology are caused by many factors including incomplete records, destroyed or lost documentation, as well as anonymous sales by private collectors whose identities are either lost to time or kept confidential by auction houses, art dealers, and galleries.  

The Museum strives to maintain individual provenance records for every accessioned work in its global collection. Research in all collection areas is ongoing with the long-term goal of sharing provenance information on the Museum’s publicly searchable collection database. If you have information or questions about the provenance of an object in the collection, please contact us at provenance@dma.org.   

The Museum adheres to the guidelines of the American Alliance of Museums (AAM) and the Association of Art Museum Directors (AAMD) regarding provenance, which were first published in the late 1990s and early 2000s and have evolved through subsequent revisions and amendments:  

• In 1998, AAMD published the Report of the AAMD Task Force on the Spoliation of Art during the Nazi/World War II Era (1933-1945) (including a 2001 Addendum), which was followed by the AAM’s Guidelines Concerning the Unlawful Appropriation of Objects During the Nazi Era in 1999 (amended in 2001). In 2000, the Museum initiated a provenance research project to determine whether any works in the Museum’s collection had been in Continental Europe between 1933 and 1945 and had a gap in their provenance during this period.   
• In 2004 and 2008, AAMD and AAM issued a set of guidelines and standards about acquisitions of archeological material and ancient art: the Report of the AAMD Task Force on the Acquisition of Archaeological Materials and Ancient Art (2004, newly issued in 2008, amended in 2013 (Guidelines on the Acquisition of Archaeological Material and Ancient Art) and 2015) and the AAM Standards Regarding Archaeological Material and Ancient Art (2008). These documents included the adoption of November 1970 as the threshold date when considering an acquisition— the date of the UNESCO Convention on the Means of Prohibiting and Preventing the Illicit Import and Export and Transfer of Ownership of Cultural Property.  
• In 2022, AAMD issued its Guidance on Art from Colonized Areas. The Museum acknowledges the complex ethical questions that can arise regarding works that changed hands under colonial rule and follows the above guidance when considering the acquisition, display, or deaccession of works of art from colonized areas.  

The Museum also complies with the Native American Graves Protection and Repatriation Act (NAGPRA), a federal law originally passed in 1990.   

Between 1933 and 1945, the Nazi regime and their allies conducted widespread looting of works of art across continental Europe. Works of art were forcibly seized from public institutions, private collectors, and dealers or sold under duress by their owners because of persecution due to their ethnicity, religion, or political belief. The purpose of the Museum’s Nazi-era provenance research is to determine whether any objects in the collection could have been illegally seized, stolen, or forcibly sold and not subsequently returned to the rightful owner.  

The Museum follows the AAM’s guidelines concerning Nazi-era provenance and its prioritization of European paintings as a starting place for research. European paintings with gaps in their provenance during the Nazi era (1933 to 1945) can be found here. Inclusion on this list does not imply that a work was illegally transferred during this time period, rather, it indicates that the work has been designated as a research priority. The Museum actively researches all the listed works and updates the list as new acquisitions are made, research progresses, and archives and other essential resources for provenance research become available. Nazi-era provenance research for the collection of European sculptures, works on paper, and decorative arts, as well as antiquities and non-European works of art that changed, or could have changed ownership, in continental Europe between 1933 and 1945 is also ongoing.  

The Museum has committed to only acquiring works if research substantiates that the work was outside its probable country of modern discovery before 1970, legally exported from its probable country of modern discovery after 1970, or meets one of the exceptions in the AAMD Guidelines, as amended in 2013.  

The Museum participates in the AAMD Registry of New Acquisition of Archaeological Material and Works of Ancient Art, an online registry that provides images and information on new acquisitions of select works of archaeological and ancient art acquired since June 4, 2008. 

The Museum seeks to resolve all known ownership claims. Works that have been transferred to their legally determined rightful owners are published on the Deaccessioned Artworks page.  

The Dallas Museum of Art welcomes inquiries and information about the provenance of the works in the Museum’s collection. Please email us at provenance@dma.org or send letters to:  

Chief Curatorial and Research Officer  

Dallas Museum of Art  

1717 North Harwood St.  
Dallas TX 75201, USA