FORGERIES AND FORGERS ON THE FINE ARTS MARKET

Text topic: Lie in Art and Culture

Text author: Дејана Прњат

Many forgeries have been taken for originals for years, even centuries. With the advance of science and technology, it became possible to perform numerous analyses of artifacts whose authenticity is questioned. One would expect that those tests are run routinely, however, that is not the case. Analyses can be costly, may take a long time and some of them can even irrevocably damage the artifact tested. Therefore, even the most prestigious of museums worldwide have forgeries in their collections and the most renowned auction houses auction forgeries at the price of the originals, from time to time. Knowing that those prices sometimes reach millions of euros, it is clear that forgery has become a very lucrative business. Since verifying the authenticity of an artifact which was created in recent years is most difficult due to ready availability of the materials used, it can be anticipated that the art markets in the near future will be flooded with forgeries of modern art pieces.