Art Magazine Accuses Collector
Forged Paintings at Forthcoming Dali Exhibition?

News article was originally published on RP Online German News on August 25, 2000.
Transcribed for readability.

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RP Online, German News
25 August 2000

Forged Paintings at Forthcoming Dali Exhibition?

Augsburg (rpo). Three weeks before the opening of a major exhibition of paintings by Salvador Dali in Agusburg the Hamburg-based magazine Art has leveled serious charges against the organization. In its latest edition the magazine claimed the exhibition in question was notorious among art experts for its inclusion of several forged paintings. Vera Schauber, initiator of the exhibition, repudiated the accusations as "unfounded". Mara Albaretto, the private collector who owns the works in question, has already called in her lawyer on the case.

Schauber said Albaretto would soon come to Augsburg to inspect the exhibition and address the issue. "She is going to present an expert's opinion for each of the 140 paintings involved." She said Mara Albaretto had been shocked about the report. Her lawyer had urged Art to retract the assertions or else face a damage charge.

The 140 oil paintings, watercolors and drawings by Salvador Dali that will be on display at the Roemisches Museum in Augsburg from September 15 are owned by the Italian family Albaretto. Some of the paintings will be made available to the public for the very first time. The accusations notwithstanding, the exhibition will open as planned: "I have complete trust in Mara Albaretto," Schauber confirmed. She predicted the accusations would disappear into thin air once the expert's opinions were presented.

Art claimed experts had already exposed some of the works in the Albaretto collection as fakes at an earlier exhibition in 1997. The magazine reported some of the later prints that carried Dali's signature had been made at a time when the Spanish painter was already too old and frail to sign any works. The police had then opened an investigation against the Albarettos.

Because of their sheer number and the painter's apparent unconcern, many of Salvador Dali's works - especially the commercial prints - have long been considered fakes.

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