On this website, you may find provenance information related to individual artworks in the Netherlands Art Property Collection (Dutch: Nederlands Kunstbezit/NK-collectie).

This collection consists of artworks with a past related to the Second World War. The nature of that past varies from former looted Jewish property to voluntarily sold trade stock. Artworks  from this collection are loaned to Dutch museums, embassies and other government buildings. The custodian of the collection is the Cultural Heritage Agency.

Between 1998 and 2005, a systematic investigation into the provenance of the individual objects in the collection was carried out by the Origins Unknown Agency (Dutch: Bureau Herkomst Gezocht), which was established by the Dutch government for that purpose.

At the start of the research in 1998, the collection amounted to approximately 4700 cultural objects, varying from paintings (around 1600), drawings, engravings, ceramics, silver, furniture, tapestries and other special objects. The Origins Uknown Agency compiled a reconstruction of the provenance for every item in the collection on the basis of the information that was available at that time. That information can be consulted on this website.

If an object is mention on this website, this doesn't always mean that the possession of the object was lost as a result of plunder, forced sale, confiscation or was lost involuntarily in any other way. The information on this website is not conclusive or complete. Because a lot of archival material has been lost, the absence of an object or the lack of information on ab object should not lead to the conclusion that that object has not been previously lost as a result of plunder, forced sale, confiscation or involuntarily loss in any other way. It cannot be guaranteed that the objects are attributed to the proper artist. The spelling of provenance names may vary.

Since 2001, hundreds of objects from the NK-collection have been restituted. There may also have been new information available on individual works of art. If you are looking for information on a specific work of art, it is therefore recommended to look at the new portal of NK Collection or contact the Cultural Heritage Agency via restitutie@cultureelerfgoed.nl in order to verify if additional information is available.