2025 YEAR-END APPEAL

Provenance Research and “Musées Nationaux Récupérations” Project

The 2025 AFMO year-end appeal will be in support of provenance research and Musées Nationaux Récupérations at the Musée d'Orsay.

The Greatest Theft in History

During his first state visit to Italy in 1938, Hitler spent two hours visiting Florence’s iconic museums. There, an idea was born. An art complex should be built in the dictator’s hometown of Linz, Austria: the Führermuseum. With this dream began the greatest theft in history. Though the persecution of Jewish German citizens had begun in 1933, it was not until 1938 that the confiscation of artworks became systemic and institutionalised.

The magnitude of looting carried out by the Nazis has no precedents, particularly in regards to the premeditated theft of art and cultural treasures. The plundering of treasures across Europe, particularly from Jewish families, enriched the Third Reich at the expense of its victims. At the end of the war, approximately 60,000 artworks were recuperated from Germany and its occupied territories and sent back to France, where it was believed they had been stolen. By 1950, 45,000 of these had been returned to their original owners by the Commission de Récupération Artistique (CRA). Of the 15,000 pieces that were never claimed, the State chose to sell approximately 13,000 of them, giving the final 2,000 art works to national museums across the country. These artworks are today known as Musées Nationaux Récupérations (MNR). These MNR would be exhibited in museums across France with the hope that their original owners would eventually claim them. Should nobody claim them, they would eventually become property of the State.

Provenance and Restitution at the Musée d’Orsay

After decades of neglect, restitution became a major issue again in the mid-1990s. Restitutions have since been carried out, including works by Signac, Pissarro, and Meissonier. Despite such progress, the provenance of most MNR works remains uncertain. As of January 2024, 1,765 works still lack a fully documented history. The urgency of this issue was stressed by a 2024 report from the Cour des Comptes (Court of Auditors), prompting a plan to systematically review MNR items within the next five to ten years.

The Musée d’Orsay, which holds 224 MNR or equivalent works, all created by artists born between 1820 and 1870, has fully embraced this plan, carrying out a provenance research to cover two main areas. The first focuses on historical research on the MNR works in their collections. Every year, over the course of four years, about 80 works will undergo in-depth provenance investigations in partnership with the French Ministry of Culture's Research and Restitution mission (M2RS) and under the guidance of a project team. The second involves provenance research for acquisition projects, for valuable consideration or free of charge.

By early 2026, the museum will have established a room dedicated to MNR works on the ground floor. There, approximately 10 art works will be exhibited, selected for their history. Artists featured will include Renoir, Degas, Cézanne, and Boudin, among others. In order to implement these projects, the Musée d’Orsay will require experts to work on provenance research and is soliciting AFMO’s support to fund them.

A five-year commitment

AFMO will support the Musée d'Orsay's MNR and provenance research program, a core project at the heart of our mission. This year's Year End Appeal will inaugurate AFMO's five-year commitment.

The 2025 Year End Appeal campaign will open on November 1, 2025 and run through December 31, 2025.

For more information, please email AFMO.