It could be a big scandal on the art market. As reported by the New York Times in an article spotted by Courrier International, the FBI is currently investigating 25 works by artist Jean-Michel Basquiat which have been on display since February at the Orlando Museum of Art, Florida, but which could actually be fake.
The authenticity of the works is more than ever questioned by the investigators, who believe that the American museum is currently displaying decoys in its enclosure. According to the statements of the current owners of the works and the management of the museum, all of the paintings were sold by Jean-Michel Basquiat himself to two buyers for 5,000 dollars in the 1980s. Stored in a storage room before forgotten, they were seized in 2012 before being auctioned off for $15,000.
Interviewed by the New York Times, the famous art dealer Larry Gagosian describes this hypothesis as “highly improbable” and justifies himself by evoking the past of the two buyers, who were convicted of drug cases, under different names.
Another detail undermines the authenticity of Jean-Michel Basquiat’s works. According to an independent expert, one of the boxes on which one of the paintings was made dates from 1994, six years after the death of the American artist. A theory strongly reprimanded by the management of the museum, which claims to have relied on various expertise and research to prove the reliability of the works.
