Museum of Art Fakes, Art museum in Landstrasse, Vienna, Austria
Museum of Art Fakes is an art museum in Vienna dedicated to displaying forgeries and replicas created by famous counterfeiters. The collection documents the techniques and strategies behind these works and shows how experts overlooked them or held them as genuine for years.
The museum was founded in 2005 and became the first institution worldwide dedicated exclusively to investigating and displaying authenticated art forgeries. This establishment marked a turning point in recognizing art forgery as a significant field of study.
The name directly refers to the museum's focus on showing works by forgers who attempted to imitate famous artists. Visitors can observe how these imitations ended up hanging in museums and collections, reflecting the everyday reality of the art market.
The museum sits next to the Hundertwasser House, making the location easy to find. The spaces are manageable in size, so you can move through all the exhibits without rushing and focus on the details of each work.
Many of the displayed forgeries contain intentionally hidden marks or signals that their creators embedded to one day prove their authorship. These personal signatures hidden beneath the surface reveal the psychology of those who attempted to deceive the art world.
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