Art Crime News

Basquiat Art Forgery Scandal Rocks Museums Nationwide

An auctioneer, Michael Barzman, has admitted to creating fake Basquiat paintings and passing them off as authentic. The paintings were displayed in a Basquiat exhibition at the Orlando Museum of Art in Florida in February 2022. The FBI raided the museum in June and seized the paintings in an investigation into their provenance. Barzman was charged with and pleaded guilty to making false statements to a government agency. Basquiat’s artwork has fetched prices upward of $100 million since his death in 1988, making them a target for forgers.