Sicily, De Chirico forgeries displayed at an exhibition in Noto. 26 works seized

In Noto (Syracuse), Carabinieri from the Nucleo Tutela Patrimonio Culturale seized 26 works of art that were on display at the Convitto delle Arti boarding school, in an exhibition titled The Impossible is Noto, as works by De Chirico, Kandinsky, Boccioni, Balla, Carrà, Russolo, Picasso, Max Jacob, Richter, Klee, Miró and Dalí. The operation, coordinated by the Syracuse prosecutor’s office, began following a complaint by the Giorgio and Isa de Chirico Foundation regarding the exhibition of four works in Noto that appeared falsely attributed to De Chirico: the public prosecutor’s office, after acquiring documentation provided by the event’s organizers, the Sicilia Musei association (which provided the De Chirico cards, loaned to the exhibition by a foreign company and an Italian private individual), commissioned an expert witness who confirmed that the De Chirico works were fake, and expressed doubts about the authenticity of the other twenty-two, on which further examinations will now be conducted. One person has been placed on the register of suspects on charges of forgery of works of art.

"The verifications on 26 works of the approximately 150 exhibited in the exhibition L’Impossibile è Noto, conducted by the military of the Carabinieri Command for the Protection of Cultural Heritage, will allow us to know the truth about the authenticity of the works and to establish any responsibility," said the mayor of the Sicilian city, Corrado Bonfati. “One thing is certain,” the first citizen added, “in the event that the presence of fake works should be ascertained, the Municipality of Noto is an injured party and will assert its reasons in the competent venues.” The Municipality of Noto, through its culture sector, has already entrusted four exhibitions to the same organization: in addition to L’Impossibile è Noto, Sicilia Musei staged the exhibition Andy Warhol è Noto in 2016, in 2017 Chagall and Missoni. Dream and Color, and in 2018 Picasso is Noto. However, this is not the first time Sicilia Musei has found itself involved in similar events: back in May, two sculptures attributed to Alberto Giacometti and exhibited at the Cyclopica exhibition, organized in Syracuse by the same party, were seized as they were considered fake.

Pictured: one of the De Chirico works seized and declared to be fake.

Sicily, De Chirico forgeries displayed at an exhibition in Noto. 26 works seized

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