Based on the Art Restitution Law, the MAK began reviewing the collection in 1998 with regard to objects that had been seized during the Nazi era. In the Nazi era (1938–1945), over 4 200 pieces of art, more than 4 600 works on paper, and around 2 000 books were inventoried at the then State Arts and Crafts Museum in Vienna. Completing the detailed review of these acquisitions is the medium-term goal of the provenance research at the MAK.
In addition, the objects inventoried after 1945 are reviewed with regard to restitutions that were not carried out and potential expropriations during National Socialism.
In 2009, the Art Restitution Law was amended. As a consequence, all seizures during Nazi rule also outside of Austria are now covered by the law. Therefore, the period under review was extended by the years 1933 to 1938. The corresponding investigations have already been implemented by the provenance research at the MAK.
The investigations take place in consultation with the Head of the Commission for Provenance Research. Since 1998, more than 90 dossiers have been created and handed over to the Art Restitution Advisory Board. Based on the respective decisions of the Art Restitution Advisory Board, more than 470 objects have been resituated since 1999.
