Who says art isn't exciting? While people tend to indulge in the arts for their relaxing and thought-provoking nature, there is a lot of chaos that happens behind the scenes. From artists protesting the sale of their own art to celebrities importing delicate artifacts, here are some of the biggest scandals to hit the art world.&nbsp;

Inigo Philbrick attends Huntsman on 57th Celebration Dinner at Le Bernardin on February 2, 2016 in New York City. Photo courtesy of Getty Images.

Inigo Philbrick was once seen as a great prospect in the world of art dealing. That was until he got caught in what is believed to be the largest American art-based fraud scheme. According to <a href="https://www.artnews.com/art-news/news/inigo-philbrick-art-dealer-released-prison-1234701364/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Art News, </a>&nbsp;in 2019 Philbrick was accused of tampering with market figures while dealing multi-million-dollar pieces of art. He was then detained by US authorities on the basis of allegedly defrauding art investors. Philbrick then plead guilty to wire fraud in November 2021 and was also indicted for idenity theft due to him faking information on contracts in order to conduct transactions.&nbsp;
Philbrick served less than four years of his seven-year sentence, as he was recently released this month. In <a href="https://www.vanityfair.com/style/inigo-philbrick-confessions" target="_blank" rel="noopener">a piece published by </a><a href="https://www.vanityfair.com/style/inigo-philbrick-confessions" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Vanity Fair</a> on March 27, 2024, Philbrick and a few of his friends and family weighed in on how the ordeal went down.&nbsp;
&ldquo;There are no doors, and the noise is like a spring break bar at peak capacity&mdash;banter and arguments and all clamoring against the most unforgiving acoustics&mdash;linoleum and cement,&rdquo; Philbrick said while describing his time in prison.&nbsp;

Photo: Getty Images.

Former art gallery owner Mary Boone served 30 months in prison for filing false tax returns. Upon closing her gallery, it was revealed that tax fraud wasn't her only. James Oliver, the former director of Boone's gallery, claims that the gallerist misappropriated funds from art sales. When making a large sale at the gallery, Boone often had the funds wired to her personal bank account. Oliver filed a lawsuit against Boone, her gallery, and the limited partnership, Boone Associates, where he should've made about 10 percent in interest. The former gallery director filed the suit due to owed funds for his time spent working at the gallery. Boone owed her former employee around $44,000. When asked about the sales, Boone stated, "It&rsquo;s mine and I am going to need it when I get out of prison."

On May 30 2022, climate change activist and artist Luke Sundberg took a trip to the <a href="https://www.lofficielusa.com/art/vintage-photos-louvre-museum-paris-france" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Louvre in Paris</a> and pied the famous "Mona Lisa" painting. The pie-er posed as a disabled woman to try and get near the portrait. When Sundberg reached the painting, he stripped the disguise and smeared pie cream on the glass frame before security dragged him away. Despite his efforts, the "Mona Lisa" was left intact.&nbsp;

Kim Kardashian's Ancient Roman Statue

In 2016, <a href="https://www.lofficielusa.com/fashion/kim-kardashian-best-metallic-swimsuit-moments-summer-skims" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Kim Kardashian</a> attempted to unknowingly <a href="https://www.lofficielusa.com/pop-culture/kim-kardashian-ancient-roman-sculpture-italy-us-government" target="_blank" rel="noopener">import an ancient Roman statue</a> to the U.S. after purchasing the piece from the Axel Vervoordt Gallery. According to the U.S. Government, the figure had been smuggled in from Italy, and the import documentation wasn't sufficient. The statue in question was the "Fragment of Myron's Samian Athena." When the piece arrived in Los Angeles, it was detained.&nbsp;

Photos: Getty Images.

In 2018, <a href="https://www.lofficielusa.com/art/everything-we-know-about-that-stolen-banksy-mural-2019" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Bansky</a> shredded his own painting during an auction in London. The "Girl With Balloon" painting was in the process of being auctioned off when the piece spontaneously "self-destructed." After being sold to the highest bidder for $1.4 million, the image slid through the shredder hidden in its frame, leaving the auction house shocked. Despite never revealing his identity, the British artist took to Instagram to discuss the incident. "Some people think it didn't really shred. It did. Some people think the auction house were in on it, they weren't." The painting has since been renamed "Love is in the Bin" and sold for a much higher price.

Thanks to Netflix, everyone now knows the thrilling tale of how <a href="https://www.lofficielusa.com/pop-culture/who-is-anna-delvey-crime-timeline-schemes-netflix-inventing-anna" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Anna Delvey</a> (or Anna Sorokin) scammed her way to the top. Sorokin posed as a wealthy German heiress and took on the alias Anna Delvey to become one of New York's biggest socialites. One of Sorokin's last schemes involved her securing a large loan to start a members-only art club, the Anna Delvey Foundation. With fake accountants, numerous falsified documents, and a story about inheriting her grandfather's prestigious art collection, the scheme fell through and the socialite was caught and charged for grand larceny.

Prince Charles' Counterfeit Art Collection

<a href="https://www.lofficielusa.com/politics-culture/prince-charles-camilla-parker-bowels-royals-scandal-diana" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Prince Charles</a> was loaned 17 artworks to add to his timeless art collection. Amongst the loaned paintings were pieces by Monet and Picasso, or so he thought. The Prince planned to hang the works in Dumfries House, home to the Prince's Foundation. It was later revealed that four of the 17 paintings were imitations by California artist Tony Tetro. The forgeries replicated works by Picasso, Chagall, Dal&iacute;, and Monet.

Photo: Netflix.

The Netflix documentary Made You Look: A True Story About Fake Art&nbsp;tells one of the largest art forgery frauds in American history. Ann Freedman, the president and director of Knoedler Gallery at the time, purchased what she thought to be authentic unseen Jackson Pollock, Robert Motherwell, and Mark Rothko paintings. The paintings in question were created by Chinese artist Pei-Shen Qian and sold by a Long Island art dealer named Glafira Rosales. The provenance or history of ownership of these works couldn't be traced and Freedman went along with the purchase despite provenance being a vital part of the verification process. For nearly 20 years, Freedman sold these forged paintings and accrued about $80 million in sales. Eventually, a Motherwell painting was revealed as a fake resulting in an FBI investigation. Rosales was the only one involved in the scheme who faced a criminal sentence.

The 8 Biggest Art World Scandals in Recent History

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