Arbeitskreis Werkverzeichnis e. V.
Photo: Bayerische Staatsgemäldesammlungen, Johannes Haslinger
Catalogues raisonnés are indispensable tools for scholarship and research, public and private collections, and the art market. They provide an essential overview of an artist’s body of work and document fundamental information about their complete oeuvre. They are also consulted for authenticity assessments and provenance research. Their encyclopaedic nature clearly distinguishes them from monographs and exhibition catalogues. Catalogues raisonnés constitute a distinct genre within art-historical literature.
Compiling a catalogue raisonné involves a multitude of methodological and organisational challenges and requires a level of multitasking that goes far beyond the training of art historians. The complexity of such a task led to the idea of founding an informal working group for authors of catalogues raisonnés at the Hamburger Kunsthalle in November 2018. The group was later expanded to include estate administrators. By the end of 2025, the community had nearly 300 registered members. In January 2026, the association Arbeitskreis Werkverzeichnis e. V., based in Hamburg, was founded at the Georg Kolbe Museum in Berlin.
Since its foundation, the Arbeitskreis Werkverzeichnis has regularly organised specialist conferences in Germany and Austria and published its own works in open-access format.
More detailed information on the group’s activities and membership can be found on the website: www.arbeitskreis-werkverzeichnis.org
As of: 21.03.2026
The work of the Catalogue Raisonné Working Group is financially supported by the "Kaldewei Kulturstiftung" in Ahlen.
