Display Window Archive - Provenance research

Jenny and Sidney Brown acquired the core of their Impressionist art collection between 1908 and 1919, many years before the expropriation of Jewish property by the National Socialists. Between 1933 and 1940, the couple bought thirteen further works to supplement the collection from renowned galleries in Paris, Lucerne and Geneva. Were the paintings by Paul Cézanne, Eugène Boudin or Pierre-Auguste Renoir possibly looted art or works that Jews had to sell in order to finance their escape from Germany?

From 2022 to 2024, the Museum Langmatt once again addressed the complex questions of provenance and the associated possible claims to ownership of the paintings. With the help of external experts, the backs of the works and numerous archive materials were evaluated. The results of the project, which was supported by the Federal Office of Culture, were published at the end of 2024 (www.langmatt.ch/sammlung/provenienzforschung).

In the current «Schaufenster Archiv» (Display Window Archive), archive documents and research findings shed light on the topic. As the paintings in question are being presented at the same time in the «Welcome back» exhibition on the first floor, the «Schaufenster Archiv» also extends there and provides further information and background on the works and their former owners.