Italian police have seized 21 works from an exhibition on Spanish Surrealist Salvador Dalí, claiming they are fakes. “Dalí, Between Art and Myth” had only recently opened at Palazzo Tarasconi in Parma and had previously been on view in Rome, at the Museo Storico della Fanteria.
“Tapestries, drawings, engravings, and objects attributed to Salvador Dalí, one of the greatest artists of the 20th century, displayed months ago in an exhibition in Rome, had attracted the attention of the Carabinieri Cultural Heritage Protection Unit, who questioned their authenticity,” said the Italian police in a Facebook post. “When the same works arrived in Parma for another exhibition, a decisive alert was made by the Fundación Gala – Salvador Dalí, the organization that protects the artist’s rights worldwide. In defense of the artistic heritage, 21 works deemed fake were seized.”
Suspicions were raised when the Rome unit of the Carabinieri’s art squad previously performed a routine check at the Museo Storico della Fanteria.
“During the inspection, the kind we generally do at museums, something seemed to be amiss,” Diego Poglio, the senior officer leading the investigation, told the Guardian. “We noticed that only lithographs, posters and drawings by Dalí were on display, along with a few statues and other objects, but no paintings or anything of importance. It was difficult to understand why someone would want to organize an exhibition of such low-value works.”
The investigation is in its beginning phase, Poglio told the Guardian, saying that at this point, no one is suspected of wrongdoing.
The show brought together over 80 works, according to Artribune, which noted mediums including painting, sculpture, ceramics, glass, books, and more. It boasted supposedly rare works from private collectors in Italy and Belgium and was to remain on view through February 1, 2026. The “What’s On” page on the Palazzo Tarasconi’s website is currently blank, and the organization did not immediately respond to an emailed request for comment. Artribune noted that the show was curated by Vincenzo Sanfo.
The Fundació Gala-Salvador Dalí, the foundation based in the artist’s native city of Figueres and devoted to safeguarding his legacy, also weighed in.
The exhibition “does not have the support” of the foundation, a press representative said in an email, adding: “From the moment the contents of this exhibition—which began in Rome and has now moved to Parma—became known, the Dalí Foundation expressed concerns to the Carabinieri regarding three drawings and a series of graphic works, a fact that was also reported to the SIAE [Italian Society of Authors and Publishers]. The police action is a consequence of the preliminary investigations carried out by the Carabinieri.”
The Carabinieri have been hard at work. In February, they uncovered a clandestine forgery workshop in Rome, seizing 71 fake artworks falsely attributed to artists including Pablo Picasso, Rembrandt van Rijn, and Camille Pissarro. Just three months before, they took credit for dismantling a pan-European forgery network accused of producing and distributing replica artworks by more than 30 artists, including Dalí along with Banksy, Joan Miró, Pablo Picasso, and Andy Warhol.
Source: ArtNet.com