Elmyr DeHory - History's Most Famous Art Forger

 

 Elmyr DeHory was a struggling artist who lived in Paris. He accidentally sold one of his own pieces off as a Picasso and started to produce more of them. He began to claim he was a Hungarian aristocrat and targetted prestigous galleries in which to sell his art "collection." Even after his forgery was exposed his work still became highly sought after. 

 He decided to join forces with Jacque Chamberlain who became an art dealer accomplice and together they travelled all over Europe selling their forgeries. After a short while it became obvious that Chamberlain was taking over half of the profits, and when Elmyr found out he ended the partnership abruptly. He then located to Rio De Janiero and sold more fakes on his own. 

 In 1947 he moved to the United States and carried on his scam, but remained more discreet this time. Despite his caution an art dealer reported him to the police and Elmyr had no choice but to flee to Mexico. He was soon arrested as a murder suspect when that particular art dealer was found dead. He spent the majority of his ill-earned gains buying off the police. With not a lot of options left available, he returned to the United States where he tried to sell his own work legitimately in Los Angeles. When this did not really become as succesful as he hoped he tried to commit suicide. Legross, a close friend, worried about the state of his mental health drove him to Florida to watch him recuperate. When they ran out of money Elmyr gave him three fake lithographs to sell, this was so profitable that they decided to go into partnership and they ended up running this scam for another eight years moving to Ibiza and selling fake art around the world. 

 In 1964 the forgeries began to deteriorate. Galleries then alerted interpol and the FBI became involved. An international warrant of arrest was issued for Legross who was detained in Switzerland. Elmyr immediately went on the run but returned to Ibiza in 1967. 

 He was charged with homosexuality and imprisoned from August to October in 1968. On release he was banned from the Island for a year. He moved to Portugal but came back to Ibiza after the year had passed. The police had begun to build an elaborate case against him and wanted to extradite him for selling fake art. Elmyr understood the gravity of the situation and took his own life. 

 Legross was extradited to France from Brazil, he was imprisoned for two years and died penniless. 

 Elmyr is history's most famous forger, his life caught the attention of author Clifford Irving who wrote a biography about him and Orson Welles who wrote a documentary about him. 

 There are many experts who say that his forgeries are still at large and may be hanging on the walls of art galleries all over the world to this day...