It is standard professional practice for museums to routinely evaluate their collections to ensure that the highest standards of collecting and display are maintained. From time to time, it is necessary to remove one or more works of art from the museum’s permanent collection in accordance with the standards determined by the Association of Art Museum Directors. This practice is known as deaccessioning.

The Cleveland Museum of Art maintains a cautious approach toward deaccessioning. A work of art may be a candidate for deaccessioning due to lack of relevancy to the museum’s mission, duplication in the collection, poor quality or condition, repatriation, false attribution, or the museum’s inability to adequately care for or store the work of art due particular needs or requirements.

The following list outlines the works of art that have been deaccessioned from the museum’s collection since 1998.