In the spring 2017, an exhibition of 21 paintings by Modigliani was held at the Palazzo Ducale in Genoa. 21 paintings were seen by tens of thousands of visitors. The authenticity of these artworks was questioned by Carlo Pepi, a Tuscan art expert. The exhibition was subsequently closed.
Marc Restellini, a French Modigliani expert, says that in the world there are “at least a thousand fake Modigliani’s works.” Maybe there is even more. This information is not surprising. If something is expensive and sought for it is being faked. Because it is so tempting. In 2015, a Chinese art collector paid 170 million dollars for a painting Nu couché (Lying nude)in an auction in New York. You can read the whole story of the unsuccessful exhibition here. I have wondered about the Modigliani exhibition in the Municipal House in Prague in 2010. Were there some fakes too? What was the source of the exhibited artworks? An exhibition of Natalia Goncharova in Hluboká reminds a little of this Genoa’s exhibition. It was also terminated earlier. Such exhibitions might have only one purpose, which is to legalize counterfeits by a realized exhibition which is subsequently listed in the CV of an artwork with a reference to the catalogue.
