When Imitation is Not Flattery: Art Fakes, Forgeries, and the Market They Fool

Han van Meegeren, The Supper at Emmaus (1937)

By Lauren Stein

In 2014, the Swiss Fine Art Expert Institute (FAEI) estimated that up to 50% of all artwork circulating the market were either misattributed or forged.^[1] While this figure, now more than ten years old, is frequently debated and often criticized as overstated, even a substantially lower percentage raises serious concerns about the reliability and integrity of the art market. The mere possibility that a significant number of works are not what they purport to be undermines confidence among collectors, dealers, and institutions.

The FAEI’s own findings illustrate the scope of the issue. According to Yan Walther, FAEI’s former Director, approximately 70-90% of the artworks examined were ultimately determined not to be by the artist to whom they were attributed.^[2] FAEI was “one of the world's first private and independent laboratories specializing in the scientific study of works of art and cultural objects in the Geneva Free Ports [doing] . . . authentication, dating, condition reports, detection of forgeries, [and] inventory of collections . . . .”^[3] To conduct these assessments, the Institute relied on a combination of scientific and technical analysis, including radiocarbon dating, X-rays, and infrared scans, to assess materials and techniques.^[4]