The Biographies of Masterpieces

Every work of art has an individual history that forms part of its identity. Knowledge of the biographies of works and their history of ownership is an element of every collection history. At the Museum Barberini, too, art historians research the Impressionist masterpieces in the Hasso Plattner Collection in order to reconstruct a record of their origin as complete as possible.
Investigations of this kind have established themselves as an art historical discipline known as provenance research.

Provenance research came into focus as a core responsibility of collection research with the adoption of the “Washington Declaration” in 1998. Its forty-four signatory states, including Germany, obligated themselves to locate the former owners (or their heirs) of works of art confiscated during the Nazi period.


The first step is to identify and publicize such works. The objective is to arrive at a “just and fair solution,” which may constitute the return of the work, compensation, or an amicable agreement.

The investigation begins with the work itself: markings on its reverse often provide important clues. Researchers then consult the collection’s own records such as purchase documents or condition reports and search for the specific object in bibliographical sources, exhibition and auction catalogues, and online databanks. Archival research and the examination of historical documents such as letters and account books is also a fundamental  part of provenance research.

The works in the Hasso Plattner Collection are likewise studied in this way in order to produce a continuous record of their “biographies.” Three examples serve to illustrate the results of this work so far:

Hoschedé was one of Monet’s earliest patrons and acquired this picture in 1876. The following year, however, he declared bankruptcy, and in 1878 he was forced to auction his extensive collection of Impressionist art. 

As documents prove, the work by Monet was purchased at the auction by the opera singer Jean-Baptiste Faure, who was likewise an early collector of Impressionist paintings.

In the 1960s, the painting was sold to an owner in New York or London; in the 1970s, it found its way to Chicago and was finally auctioned in New York in November 2005 with the estate of the collector couple Bettie and Neison Harris. 
In April 2010, it was acquired by the Hasso Plattner Collection from a private collector. Since September 2020, it has been on permanent display at the Museum Barberini in Potsdam. 

Painted in 1879, the work changed hands multiple times within France between 1880 and 1898. In May 1898, it was purchased at auction by the Paris Galerie Durand-Ruel—under the leadership of Paul Durand-Ruel, who had supported the Impressionists from the beginning and whose efforts were largely responsible for their popularity. 

After another sale to the American collector Duncan Phillips in 1926, Still Life with a Honeydew Melon was finally purchased by the French art dealer Paul Rosenberg in 1934.

In the decades that followed, the work can be traced especially in the US; in 1967, it was acquired by the Kimbell Art Foundation, from whom it was purchased in 1994 by the Frederick A. und Sharon L. Klingenstein Collection. Finally, in June 2019 it was acquired by the Hasso Plattner Collection.

Renoir painted the work in 1877; five years later, it was acquired from the artist by the Galerie Durand-Ruel. As of the 1920s, the painting had been sold three additional times. In 1928, it was acquired by the Dutch banker and art collector Friedrich Bernhard Eugen “Fritz” Gutmann.

In 1940–41, the Nazis illegally confiscated The Pear Tree from him in the Netherlands. In 1944, Fritz Gutmann and his wife Louise were murdered in concentration camps.

Over the course of the decades, the painting was sold a number of times; meanwhile, the children and grandchildren of Fritz Gutmann made efforts to recover the works from his illegally confiscated art collection. 
Not until June 2005 were they finally able to reach a settlement agreement with the then owner of The Pear Tree and receive financial compensation.


In 2005 and 2010, the work entered the possession of private collectors, before being acquired by the Hasso Plattner Collection in September 2019.

The Online Collection of the Museum Barberini provides detailed information on the results of the provenance research to date of all 103 works in the Hasso Plattner Collection. Also presented there is information on exhibition history, bibliography, and videos of the museum team discussing the paintings.