The gallery confronting forgery: identifying and fighting fakes

01The scale of the problem in the contemporary market

Forgery is not limited to the Vermeers invented by Han van Meegeren or the fake Giacomettis that have dominated courtroom headlines. The contemporary market is increasingly affected. Prints, multiples and limited editions are particularly vulnerable: a lithograph pulled outside the authorised edition, a photographic print produced without the artist's consent, a sculpture cast from an unauthorised mould all constitute forgeries circulating on the market. Digital works and NFTs have added another layer of complexity, with cases of unauthorised mints and digital copies distributed without the artist's consent.

The Beltracchi case, revealed in 2010, demonstrated that sophisticated fakes could deceive experts, galleries and auction houses for decades. Wolfgang Beltracchi fabricated and sold dozens of fakes attributed to Max Ernst, Heinrich Campendonk, Fernand Léger and other modern artists, reconstructing fictitious provenances convincing enough to pass the controls of the most established dealers. His wife Helene even photographed the canvases against period-appropriate backdrops to simulate archival photographs. In France, the affair of the fake furniture at the Chateau de Versailles, although pertaining to furniture rather than contemporary art, reminded the world that even the most prestigious institutions can be deceived.

The growth of online sales has amplified the problem considerably. Peer-to-peer selling platforms, online auction sites and social media provide distribution channels for works whose authenticity is verified by nobody. A collector who purchases a work on a non-specialist platform and then offers it on consignment to a gallery places the dealer before a dilemma: refuse the work as a precaution or undertake a verification process that is costly in time and money. The proliferation of fake certificates of authenticity, sometimes produced with alarming professionalism, further complicates the dealer's task of distinguishing genuine from counterfeit.

02Identification tools available to the dealer

The first tool remains the eye. An experienced dealer who knows an artist's work well can spot anomalies that instruments will not detect: a gesture inconsistent with the artist's manner, a slightly off palette, an unusual support, a clumsy signature, a format that does not exist in the artist's corpus. This visual expertise is built over years through sustained engagement with original works, studio visits and retrospective exhibitions. The dealer who has seen hundreds of works by an artist develops an almost instinctive sensitivity to anomalies, a capacity to perceive what rings false before being able to explain it rationally.

Provenance constitutes the second safeguard. A work whose complete history can be traced from the artist's studio to the current owner offers greater assurance than one whose provenance has gaps. The dealer must require invoices, certificates of authenticity issued by the artist or their estate, exhibition photographs, references in catalogues raisonnés, and gallery labels on the reverse of canvases. Galerie Lelong, which represents the estates of major artists, maintains exhaustive archives enabling the provenance of every work that has passed through its hands to be traced. A provenance with gaps of several decades, mentioning unknown collections, or that cannot be corroborated by any period documentation should arouse the suspicion of the prudent dealer.

Scientific analysis constitutes a third level of verification. Carbon-14 dating, X-ray fluorescence spectrometry, pigment analysis by chromatography, infrared and ultraviolet imaging, and reflectography can detect anachronistic materials or suspicious pentimenti. The Centre de Recherche et de Restauration des Musees de France (C2RMF) and private laboratories such as Lumiere Technology in Paris offer these services to market professionals. Titanium white in a painting supposedly executed before 1920, a synthetic pigment in a work attributed to the eighteenth century, a stretcher made from wood too recent: these scientific clues are irrefutable. These analyses have a cost, but it is negligible compared to the financial and reputational consequences of selling a fake.

03The role of catalogues raisonnés and authentication committees

The catalogue raisonné, which records all known works by an artist, is a fundamental instrument in the fight against forgery. A work absent from the catalogue raisonné is not necessarily fake, as unpublished works may resurface after decades, but its absence demands heightened vigilance and thorough research. The Picasso catalogues raisonnés established by Christian Zervos and then by the Fondation Picasso, the Matisse catalogue by Marguerite Duthuit, and the Braque catalogue by Nicole Worms de Romilly are essential references for specialist dealers. For contemporary artists, the catalogue raisonné is often still being compiled, making verification more delicate but all the more necessary.

Authentication committees play an essential complementary role. The Chagall committee, the Wildenstein Plattner Institute for Monet, the Fondation Giacometti and the Keith Haring Foundation authenticate or reject works submitted to them. Their decisions, though sometimes contested, carry authority in the market and constitute the ultimate reference for high-level transactions. A dealer offering a work accompanied by a certificate from the competent committee provides collectors with a guarantee the market universally recognises.

The gradual disappearance of certain authentication committees, often under pressure from lawsuits brought by owners unhappy with rejections, creates troubling grey areas. The Andy Warhol Foundation ceased authentication activities in 2011 after years of costly litigation. When no committee exists for a given artist, the dealer must rely on a body of converging evidence: provenance, scientific analyses, opinions of independent experts, stylistic coherence and historical documentation. This absence of a single reference makes the dealer's work more complex but also more decisive in the market's chain of trust.

04The dealer's legal liability

Under French law, the professional seller bears an obligation of result regarding the authenticity of the work sold. Article 1641 of the Civil Code on hidden defects and Article L217-4 of the Consumer Code require the dealer to guarantee that the work corresponds to what was advertised. The sale of a fake, even in good faith, triggers liability and opens the right to rescission and full reimbursement. The Marcus decree of 1981, specific to the French art market, further imposes precise nomenclature for attributions ("attributed to", "workshop of", "school of", "in the taste of") that differentially engages the seller's liability depending on the formulation chosen.

The limitation period for annulment actions based on substantive error is five years from discovery of the fake, with no time limit on the discovery itself. A collector who discovers twenty years after purchase that their work is fake can still take action for five years after that discovery. This sword of Damocles requires permanent rigour in the dealer's authentication processes, as a fake sold long ago can resurface at any moment in the form of a court summons.

The dealer can partially protect themselves by taking out professional liability insurance covering disputes related to authenticity. They must also retain all documentation relating to each work sold: purchase invoices, certificates, expert reports, correspondence with the artist or their estate, and photographs under different lighting conditions. This archive, which may seem tedious to compile, becomes an invaluable resource in the event of litigation.

05Training the team and educating collectors

The fight against forgery begins with internal training. Every team member who handles works must be sensitised to warning signs: provenance too good to be true, an abnormally low price for the supposed quality of the work, a seller in a hurry who refuses to provide documents, a major work that appears in no prior publication, a certificate of authenticity whose format or signature appears suspect. Training must be continuous and updated, as counterfeiting techniques constantly evolve.

Galerie Kamel Mennour has developed systematic internal verification procedures for every incoming work, whether it comes directly from the artist's studio or from the secondary market. Every work is photographed, documented and verified before being accepted into the gallery's stock. This rigour, which may seem burdensome in daily practice, constitutes an investment in the gallery's long-term credibility and a bulwark against errors that could destroy a reputation built over decades.

Educating collectors is also part of the dealer's mission. A collector informed about forgery risks will be more attentive to provenance when acquiring works outside the gallery, and more inclined to trust a dealer whose high verification standards they understand. The dealer who takes time to explain their authentication processes to clients builds a relationship of trust founded on transparency and professionalism.

06Building a durable policy of trust

A gallery's reputation is built over decades but can be destroyed by a single forgery scandal. The dealer who refuses to sell a work whose authenticity seems doubtful, even when the sale would have been lucrative, makes a choice that protects them in the long run. Galerie Gmurzynska in Zurich, Galerie Helly Nahmad in Monaco and Galerie Applicat-Prazan in Paris have built their reputations on the rigour of their authentication processes and their refusal to compromise on provenance quality. This intransigence, far from deterring collectors, reassures and retains them.

Collaboration between galleries, auction houses and institutions constitutes another axis in the fight against forgery. Sharing information about identified fakes, reporting suspect works to competent authorities, and participating in reference databases such as the Art Loss Register all contribute to cleaning up the market as a whole. The dealer who works in network with peers and shares expertise in service of market transparency strengthens their own position while contributing to a safer ecosystem for all participants.

For Artedusa partner galleries, the platform provides a framework in which every work presented benefits from the endorsement of the gallery offering it. This shared responsibility between gallery and platform strengthens collector confidence and contributes to a more transparent and secure market where the quality of authentication is valued as an essential service.