ORLANDO, Fla. — The FBI raided the Orlando Museum of Art on Friday and seized more than two dozen paintings attributed to acclaimed artist Jean-Michel Basquiat, nearly a year into its investigation of their authenticity.
Outside the museum at Loch Haven Park north of downtown, a team of FBI agents could be seen carrying boxes into the building.
Visitors arrived to find closed signs on the door. A security officer said he didn’t know why the museum was closed or when it would reopen. But the circling TV news helicopters overhead and the men loading boxed-up artwork showed it was not business as usual at the nearly 100-year-old institution.
The raid came about a year after the FBI first issued a subpoena to the institution over its “Heroes & Monsters” exhibition of paintings attributed to Basquiat. If legitimate, the works could be worth $100 million, according to industry experts. But the art has been embroiled in controversy since shortly after the exhibit opened in February.
“Today, we complied with a request from the FBI for access to the ‘Heroes and Monsters’ exhibit, which is now in their possession,” museum spokeswoman Emilia Bourmas-Fry wrote in a statement. She could not offer more details about the ongoing investigation, “given the sensitivities,” but said the FBI arrived with a warrant and that “no one on staff is being arrested.”
“It is important to note that we still have not been led to believe the museum has been or is the subject of any investigation,” her statement read. “We continue to see our involvement purely as a fact witness.”
Some visitors, though, took issue with the way the museum has handled the controversy over whether the “Heroes & Monsters” works were actually painted by Basquiat, the art-world superstar who died in 1988.
Janice Ritter, 75, said the museum should have done more to explain to patrons that the works’ authenticity were in question. She, her husband and friends had driven from Dunedin to see the exhibition and judge for themselves.
“I don’t think they did their due diligence in this particular case,” said Ritter, whose group had planned to spend the night in Orlando.
The exhibit had been billed as a coup for the museum, which was the first to show the works. The pieces were said to have been found in an old storage locker years after the Basquiat’s death from a drug overdose at age 27.
But almost immediately, questions arose as to their authenticity, based on everything from incongruous FedEx branding on the cardboard on which they were painted to curious details about their origin story of being found in an abandoned storage locker. Suspicions were further aroused as previous criminal convictions of the works’ out-of-town owners came to light.
Museum director Aaron De Groft has been unwavering in his statements that the art is legitimate, pointing to various handwriting and other experts who have validated it. There is no formal way to authenticate the work as the authentication committee run by Basquiat’s estate was disbanded in 2012.
In May, The New York Times reported the FBI had served a subpoena on the museum last July, months before the exhibit opened, and collected records from the board of trustees. On Friday, the museum spokeswoman reiterated the museum would continue to cooperate with the FBI and was awaiting further instruction.
“We hope to know more soon,” she said.
The exhibit was scheduled to close next week. Museum officials had previously said it was being sent to Italy for exhibition by its owners, which include Pierce O’Donnell, a high-profile Los Angeles-based trial lawyer.
Other visitors trying to see the “Heroes & Monsters” exhibit in its final days were disappointed to learn they were out of luck.
Jennifer Belland, who drove down from DeLand on Friday with Ray Delapaz, said she didn’t think the museum owed the public a refund if the paintings are determined to be fakes but were displayed in good faith.
“I still want to see it,” she said. “But maybe for half price.”
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