Royal Museums of Fine Arts of Belgium

In times of war, odd things happen that influence our daily lives. During World War II, many works of art and cultural property belonging to public and private collections were stolen, looted or abandoned. After the war, a great number of objects were examined and eventually returned to their rightful owner. In certain cases, it was problematic to irrefutably determine the provenance of the art that was found, to ascertain whether it had been stolen or to retrace its pre-war owners. Some of these objects were incorporated in public and private collections. Belgium endorses the principles pertaining to all works of art looted by the Nazis, as established following the Washington Conference in 1998. In cooperation with the Commission of research and the Commission for compensation, the Royal Museums of Fine Art of Belgium reviewed the history of works in their collection with inconclusive provenance. During many years of research all existing sources were re-examined while recently available potential documents were tracked down to ascertain the works’ provenance. The survey was concluded leaving one work of indeterminate provenance: the owner of the painting Flowers by Lovis Corinth (1914, oil on canvas, 81 x 66, inv. 6605), prior to 1944, could not be traced. We would be most grateful if you can help us uncovering new objective evidence to reconstruct previous ownership of the work. If you wish to share any new information that may shed light on this problem of provenance, please contact us.