Deaccessioning

The terms under which an object may be considered for removal, as well as the individuals with the authority to approve the process are outlined in the deaccession section of this article.

[4] Additionally, this section lays out the legal restrictions and ethical considerations associated with removal of the object and the types of disposal that are appropriate based on the reason for the deaccession.

[5][6] The process begins with the curator creating a document called a "statement of justification", which outlines their decision criteria and reasoning for presenting the work as a possible deaccession.

Following approval of deaccession from the governing board and/or the CEO/museum director, the work is disposed of and the title of ownership is completely transferred away from the museum or terminated.

The process of disposal is completed through the following methods:[4][5] Several professional museum associations have drafted codes of ethics governing the practice of deaccession.

[14] Some commentators, such as Donn Zaretsky of The Art Law Blog critique the notion of "the public trust" and argue that deaccessioning rules should probably be thrown out altogether.

[17] In 2023 the heirs of Hedwig Stern filed a lawsuit concerning Vincent Van Gogh's Olive Pickers which was deaccessioned and sold to the Basil & Elise Goulandris Foundation in Athens without a complete provenance.