Frequently Asked Questions

The WPI research teams are working to publish new digital catalogue raisonnés; we will also selectively update specific print catalogue raisonnés completed by the Wildenstein Institute in the form of a digital addenda. If you would like a work to be considered for one of these digital publications, please visit our “Research Requests” page and submit your request for inclusion:

Paul Gauguin, Paintings and Sculpture, 1873–1888 (addenda) and 1889–1903 (new)
Édouard Manet (addenda)
Albert Marquet (addenda)
Claude Monet (addenda)
Camille Pissarro (addenda)
Odilon Redon (addenda)
Pierre-Auguste Renoir, Paintings, Drawings and Pastels (new)
Kees Van Dongen, Paintings (new)
Tom Wesselmann (new)
Romare Bearden (new)
Eva Gonzalès (new)

No. The WPI does not authenticate works of art or make any representation on the value of works of art.

In May 2021, the WPI released the long-awaited Gauguin: Catalogue Raisonné of the Paintings, 1891–1903. The Renoir digital CR of still lifes will be available by early 2023. Other projects are ongoing, and specific information on a given work can be obtained prior to digital publication by submitting an Archival Inquiry.

Yes, the WPI will be commencing select and culturally important catalogue raisonné projects in the years to come. The most recent additions to our roster include the Catalogues Raisonnés of Tom Wesselmann, Romare Bearden, and Eva Gonzalès.

From time to time, the WPI will publish printed materials related to the artists and art historical periods under our study. All forthcoming catalogue raisonnés will only be published digitally.

No. The WPI does not seize, destroy or physically alter any work of art submitted for examination.

With the exception of Van Dongen, the works that were given “Attestations of Inclusion” by the Wildenstein Institute will be included in the relevant WPI digital catalogue. However, the WPI reserves the right to reconsider a previous decision.

Yes. On September 28, 2017, the WPI began preparing a new digital catalogue raisonné of the paintings of Kees van Dongen. We are grateful to Jean-Marie van Dongen for his support. Working in consultation with Dr. Anita Hopmans, Senior Research Manager at the RKD (Netherlands Institute for Art History) in The Hague, the WPI will continue to review oil paintings attributed to the artist for future publication online. At the moment, we are not preparing a catalogue raisonné for Van Dongen works on paper, and are not accepting any inclusion requests for such works.

If you would like to know if a work was ever issued an “Attestation of Inclusion” from the Wildenstein Institute, you must submit an Archival Inquiry and pay a fee of $550, plus New York state sales tax.

If you want a written Letter of Determination from the WPI, then yes, you will need to submit a Request for Inclusion and pay a fee of $2,500.

No. The WPI is not in possession of any of the Wildenstein Gallery records.

If your work does not have an original “Attestation” from the Wildenstein Institute, and you would like to receive a Letter of Determination from the WPI, you will need to submit a Request for Inclusion and pay a fee of $2,500.

Following the research and in-person examination of a work of art by scholars at a committee meeting, you will receive a letter from the WPI indicating that:

• the work will be included in the WPI Digital Catalogue; or
• the work will not be included in the WPI Digital Catalogue; or
• no determination about the work can be made

If the work is to be included in a Digital Catalogue, the WPI will also provide information gathered by the WPI documentalists over the course of their research. This information should not however be considered an exhaustive account of the history of the painting. It will only represent material that the WPI research staff was able to identify in our own archives and collect in the short time period before the committee meeting. Further research may be added or edited before publication in the online catalogue raisonné. What information is included on the Letter of Determination is at the sole discretion of the WPI, and will not be edited to match or support the research of other individuals or institutions.

Each artist’s committee meeting convenes an average of four times a year, either in New York or Paris. You will be notified of the location and date of a forthcoming committee meeting once we receive your Request for Inclusion.

Please submit an Archival Inquiry and provide a description of the kind of information you are seeking. This service requires a pre-payment of $550, plus New York State sales tax.

The WPI no longer solicits or considers submission requests for inclusion to the Vlaminck Digital Database.

The WPI is the sole owner of the research dossiers concerning the nearly three thousand works of art that received attestations of inclusion from the Wildenstein Institute between 1992 and 2018. These works will be published in the WPI’s forthcoming Vlaminck Digital Database in the year 2029.

If you would like to know whether the Vlaminck Committee studied a particular artwork between 1992 and 2018 and receive a summary of its existent research dossier from our archive, please submit an Archival Inquiry.

The WPI will not provide any refunds if our staff have already begun work on a request. However, the WPI can provide a refund, less any applicable processing fees, for an Archival Inquiry that is exchanged for an Inclusion request for the same work of art. All refunds are subject to processing fees. No other refunds will be provided for services rendered.