Lupus nephritis is a frequent and severe complication of SLE. In the last decades, animal models for SLE have been studied widely to investigate the immunopathology of this autoimmune disease because abnormalities can be studied and manipulated before clinical signs of the disease become apparent. In this review an overview is given of our current knowledge on the development of lupus nephritis, as derived from animal models, and a hypothetical pathway for the development of lupus nephritis is postulated. The relevance of the studies in experimental models in relationship with our knowledge of human SLE is discussed.