The exhibition Dalí: between art and myth, which opened last Saturday in Parma, turned into a court case this morning. The Nucleo Carabinieri Tutela Patrimonio Culturale of Rome has in fact carried out a seizure of 21 works attributed to Salvador Dalí, exhibited at Palazzo Tarasconi, which were considered suspected of forgery. The investigation is coordinated by the Rome Public Prosecutor’s Office and stems from the hypothesis that some of the works on display are not authentic, thus configuring the possibility of a serious alteration in the circulation of cultural goods.
The seizure decree was issued by the Judge for Preliminary Investigations of the Court of Rome at the request of magistrates from the Widespread and Serious Crime Department. Military members of the Nucleo Tpc followed up on the order at the end of a series of preliminary verifications that had raised substantial doubts about the genuineness of the works, including tapestries, engravings, drawings and various objects.
Suspicions had already surfaced in recent months, when Carabinieri had noticed some anomalies during another exhibition, also titled Dalí: Between Art and Myth, organized in Rome at the Infantry Museum between January and July 2025. Subsequent checks confirmed the presence of problematic elements related to the authenticity of the works attributed to the famous Spanish artist.
Crucially, this was reported by the Fundación Gala - Salvador Dalí, the body in Spain and internationally charged with protecting the artist’s intellectual property and certifying the accuracy of attributions. Experts from the Dalí Foundation in Barcelona found inconsistencies that led to questions about the provenance of the works presented in the Italian exhibitions. The goal of the seizure is to allow for further scientific verification to determine whether the works are indeed attributable to Dali or, on the contrary, have the characteristics of non-authenticity that are already suspected.
Navigare srl, the organizing company of the Emilian exhibition, has released an official note in which it expresses its willingness to cooperate with the competent authorities. Navigare srl says it is “willing to cooperate by providing the Carabinieri’s Tpc Unit with the documentation requested for the investigation as well as any other useful element. Navigare srl, pending the conclusion of the proceedings in question, reserves all subsequent powers of law.”
The investigation will now have to clarify not only the authenticity of the works, but also the responsibilities related to their display in public settings. The operation once again highlights the complexity of the protection of artistic and cultural heritage, particularly when it involves works by well-known authors in high demand on the international market. Salvador Dalí, among the greatest exponents of Surrealism, is an artist whose production has been widely counterfeited over the decades, accomplices being his great popularity and the variety of media on which he ventured, from canvases to graphics, from objects to stage sets. Investigators’ attention is now turned to reconstructing the steps that brought these works to the halls of Palazzo Tarasconi and, previously, to the Infantry Museum.
The outcome of the investigation will clarify whether the 21 seized works can be put on display again or whether, on the contrary, they should be permanently excluded from the art circuit as fakes. In the meantime, the strong signal sent by the authorities remains: the protection of authenticity is not just a market issue, but an essential safeguard for the very credibility of cultural institutions.
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| Parma, Carabinieri seize 21 works exhibited at Dalí exhibition: suspicion of forgery |
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