Remember Me: How to Do Provenance Research When Historical Regimes Have Favored “Not To Remember”
Estonia gained independence in 1918, and the Art Museum of Estonia was established in 1919. During the War of Independence (1918–1920), Heritage Protection Societies actively collected art, with many works coming from Baltic German nobles who left Estonia. In 1920, a state-led repatriation campaign brought Estonians back from Russia, during which around 100 paintings, likely used to cover moving costs, were acquired by the Ministry of Education and donated to the museum in 1926. The museum’s collection grew significantly between 1920 and 1940, enriched by donations and sales from departing Baltic Germans and Russian émigrés fleeing the Soviet Union. Besides that, the young Estonian Republic also invested in arts and culture. However, in 1944, the Soviet air raid on Tallinn destroyed much of the museum’s archive, causing irreparable losses. In 2022, Russia’s invasion of Ukraine ended collaborations with Russian institutions, cutting off access to provenance records of artworks with Russian ties.

Provenance research ideally traces a work from its present owner back to its origin, but challenges often arise. Even minor discoveries, like old photographs or conservation materials, can provide valuable clues. Sharing findings and exposing gaps in research remains essential. This presentation will explore provenance research challenges and discoveries through case studies from the Dutch and Flemish art collection of the Art Museum of Estonia.

Greta Koppel

Eesti Kunstimuuseum, Tallinn
Greta Koppel has been a curator at the Art Museum of Estonia since 2002. She completed her PhD, Farewell to Connoisseurship? The Work of Art in the Focus of Art Historical Research, in 2021 at the Estonian Academy of Art. Her field of expertise is Early Modern Art, especially Netherlandish art from fifteenth- to seventeenth-century. In her work, she underlines the importance of multi-faceted object-based research. In 2004, Koppel co-curated her first exhibition Low Sky, Wide Horizon: Art of the Low Countires in Estonia at the Kadriorg Art Museum, a branch of the Art Museum of Estonia. She was one of the authors and editors of the catalogue raisonné of the collection of Dutch and Flemish paintings of the Kadriorg Art Museum, published in 2012. She authored numerous other catalogues and curated a number of exhibitions, several in international collaboration, such as the international research project and exhibition Michel Sittow in the North? Altarpieces in Dialogue in 2021-2023. Koppel has received several awards, including the Annual State Cultural Prize in 2018. That same year, she also received the Knighthood in the Order of Orange-Nassau.