ProvEnhance - Survey : Collections Provenance & Provenance Research on art collections in Belgian Museums (doi:10.34934/DVN/7UQCD0)
(Enquête sur la provenance des collections artistiques et la recherche de provenance au sein des musées belges - Enquête over de herkomst van kunstcollecties en herkomstonderzoek in Belgische musea (project ProvEnhance))

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Part 1: Document Description
Part 2: Study Description
Part 5: Other Study-Related Materials
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Document Description

Citation

Title:

ProvEnhance - Survey : Collections Provenance & Provenance Research on art collections in Belgian Museums

Identification Number:

doi:10.34934/DVN/7UQCD0

Distributor:

Social Sciences and Digital Humanities Archive – SODHA

Date of Distribution:

2026-09-18

Version:

1

Bibliographic Citation:

Alexandre, Aude, 2026, "ProvEnhance - Survey : Collections Provenance & Provenance Research on art collections in Belgian Museums", https://doi.org/10.34934/DVN/7UQCD0, Social Sciences and Digital Humanities Archive – SODHA, V1

Study Description

Citation

Title:

ProvEnhance - Survey : Collections Provenance & Provenance Research on art collections in Belgian Museums

Alternative Title:

Enquête sur la provenance des collections artistiques et la recherche de provenance au sein des musées belges - Enquête over de herkomst van kunstcollecties en herkomstonderzoek in Belgische musea (project ProvEnhance)

Identification Number:

doi:10.34934/DVN/7UQCD0

Authoring Entity:

Alexandre, Aude (Royal Museums of Fine Arts of Belgium)

Other identifications and acknowledgements:

Leroux, Alexandre

Producer:

ProvEnhance project

Date of Production:

2025-12-17

Software used in Production:

Microsoft Forms

Software used in Production:

Microsoft Excel

Grant Number:

B2/233/P2/ProvEnhance

Distributor:

Social Sciences and Digital Humanities Archive – SODHA

Access Authority:

Alexandre, Aude

Access Authority:

Leroux, Alexandre

Access Authority:

Data Management

Depositor:

Alexandre, Aude

Date of Deposit:

2026-06-29

Series Name:

provenhance: Serie of data produced by the ProvEnhance Project (B2/233/P2/ProvEnhance) funded by Belspo

Holdings Information:

https://doi.org/10.34934/DVN/7UQCD0

Study Scope

Keywords:

Arts and Humanities, art museums (institutions), provenance, art collections

Topic Classification:

provenance

Abstract:

As part of the research project “ProvEnhance. Enhancing the provenance data of the collections of the Royal Museums of Fine Arts of Belgium (RMFAB) since 1933 – Scientific study, digital valorization and narrative in context”, a survey was conducted in the winter 2024-2025 among fine arts museums in Belgium to map out the current practices and resources used in provenance research on art collections within Belgian museums and related institutions, and to identify key needs and opportunities for collaboration and synergy. The survey was distributed to 133 museums identified as holding substantial fine-art and/or decorative-art collections. It was circulated directly through a bilingual mailing and more broadly through professional newsletters. The form was written in English, while respondents could answer in French or Dutch. In total, 43 responses were received. The survey included 40 questions divided into eight sections: museum profile, collection description, collection registration, available archives and documentation, provenance issues, provenance-research practices, needs and expectations, and closing information. This dataset contains the files related to this survey. Access to the file containing the survey responses is restricted to protect sensitive data, but the questionnaire, the list of respondents and the aggregated data are freely available.

Date of Collection:

2025-12-16-2026-03-31

Country:

Belgium

Unit of Analysis:

Organization/Institution

Universe:

Belgian museums or other public insitutions holding fine-arts or decorative arts collections

Kind of Data:

survey data

Methodology and Processing

Data Collector:

Royal Museums of Fine Arts of Belgium - Project ProvEnhance

Sampling Procedure:

Potential respondents were identified by conducting a review of publicly available lists of Belgium Museums (Museum Pass, Erfgoedkaart) as well as by contacting regional / community associations of museums in Belgiums. The survey was also circulated more broadly through professional newsletters.

Mode of Data Collection:

The questionnaire was circulated directly through a bilingual mailing to the identified potential respondents and more broadly through professional newsletters.

Sources Statement

Data Sources:

The data included in the dataset were produced in the context of the museum survey. To assemble a list of museums to be contacted, different external data sources were used, as well public ones (Museum pass, Erfgoedkaart) as restricted ones (members of museum Belgian or international associations - MSW, ICOM, Meemoo; internal museum loan partners list). To consolidate and analyse the demographic data in the responses, some external referentials have also been used, mainly from the Open Data Wallonie-Bruxelles portal (https://www.odwb.be) but also from https://www.vlaanderen.be/.

Data Access

Notes:

The copyright content in this project is available for re-use under the terms of a [Creative Commons Attribution (CC BY 4.0)](https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/) Licence. Creative Commons licences, including the CC BY 4.0 licence do not provide permission for any users to process any personal data that may be included in this project content. Under the General Data Protection Regulation and any data protection legislation in place in the country in which you are based, you will have a number of legal obligations and responsibilities relating to the use of any personal data in this content. This means that before you re-use any personal information in this content, you should ensure you have fulfilled any obligations to provide privacy information to the individuals whose personal data may be included in this content. This is likely to include, requesting consent and/or establishing another lawful basis for processing or identifying any exemptions you are relying on for re-use of the personal data. You may also have to comply with data subject rights requests.

Given the sensitive nature of certain data, the survey was conducted under strict confidentiality. The dataset containing the survey responses is therefore not accessible outside the ProvEnhance project.

Other Study Description Materials

Related Publications

Citation

Bibliographic Citation:

Aude ALEXANDRE, Fenya ALMSTADT, Eléa DE WINTER, Ingrid GODDEERIS, Alexandre LEROUX, Kim OOSTERLINCK, Anne-Sophie RADERMECKER, Provenance Research in Belgian Museums. What a national survey reveals about collections, documentation and capacity, ENCATC Magazine, 12, March 2026.

Other Study-Related Materials

Label:

Belgian_Museums_and_respondents.xlsx

Text:

List of Belgian museums of Fine Arts and/or Decorative Arts that were invited to take part in the survey, as well as those that responded.

Notes:

application/vnd.openxmlformats-officedocument.spreadsheetml.sheet

Other Study-Related Materials

Label:

Provenhance_museum_survey_codebook.md

Text:

Document matadata and variable descriptions for each data file

Notes:

text/markdown

Other Study-Related Materials

Label:

README.md

Notes:

text/markdown

Other Study-Related Materials

Label:

Survey_Data.xlsx

Text:

Full survey data

Notes:

application/vnd.openxmlformats-officedocument.spreadsheetml.sheet

Other Study-Related Materials

Label:

Survey_Questionnaire.pdf

Text:

Survey questionnaire as published - introduction and 40 questions divided into 8 sections.

Notes:

application/pdf

Other Study-Related Materials

Label:

Survey_Results_Presentation.pdf

Text:

A brief presentation of the survey results during a study day on 17/12/2025.

Notes:

application/pdf