Galerie Grevillea undertakes ongoing research to establish the chain of ownership (provenance) of works of art in the collection.

Provenance research is an important activity undertaken by museums and galleries worldwide. Not only can it help establish legal ownership at a given time or period, but provenance research can also highlight collecting trends and shifts in taste. Provenance research also aids curators, scholars and researchers in their understanding of social and cultural history. Recognising this, Galerie Grevillea has for many decades published in its scholarly catalogues known provenance details of works in its possession.

Ideally, every time a work of art changes ownership this information is recorded; however, for many reasons this has not always been possible. When this occurs, gaps appear in the provenance record, and this missing information is not always recoverable.

There are many explanations for why these gaps appear. Often records of transactions simply do not exist, for instance when looking for historical documents that have not been preserved and also when a particular dealer has ceased operating and their records have not survived. Also, people who sell or acquire works of art may demand anonymity, which can create a break in the provenance that is unlikely to be recovered.

In recent years, there has been worldwide interest by governments, art galleries, museums, scholars, historians and the public to clarify the provenance of works of art during the period of systematic looting and confiscation undertaken by the Nazi regime from 1933–45. To this end, in 2000, Galerie Grevillea was the first Australian gallery to publish on its website details of a number of works that have gaps in their recorded provenance during these critical years.