Patrick Haggenmueller, Head of the Art Investigation Unit of the Bavarian State Criminal Police Office (BLKA), displays the forged painting 'Portrait of Marie-Therese Walter with garland', offered as artwork by Spanish artist Pablo Picasso and confiscated by the police, during a presentation in the premises of the Bavarian State Criminal Investigation Department in Munich, southern Germany, on October 24, 2025. Photo by Matthias BALK / AFP
Frankfurt, Germany: German and Swiss police have bust a plot to sell suspected forgeries of paintings by artists including Rembrandt, Pablo Picasso and Joan Miro for huge sums, German officials said Friday.
The main suspect, a 77-year-old German man, allegedly attempted to sell 20 fake paintings, which also included purported works by Rubens, Frida Kahlo and Amedeo Modigliani, aided by 10 accomplices.
The paintings were being offered for between 400,000 and 14 million euros ($465,000 and $16.2 million), police in Germany's Bavaria state said in a statement.
Police carried out searches last week in several cities in southern Germany as well as in Berlin, several parts of Switzerland and Liechtenstein, they said.
Authorities were alerted to the plot when the main suspect attempted to sell two paintings supposedly by Picasso, including a portrait of Dora Maar, a French photographer, painter and poet who was the artist's best-known muse.
He also allegedly tried to find buyers for a copy of Rembrandt's famous painting, "De Staalmeesters", for 120 million Swiss francs.
Police said this attempt was especially "bizarre" as the original work is in the collection of the Rijksmuseum in Amsterdam.
The copy, thought to be from the 20th century, was found in the possession of an 84-year-old Swiss woman, who is now also under investigation.
The main suspect and another German man aged 74, accused of preparing reports to confirm the works' authenticity, were arrested when police carried out raids. They have since been released on bail.
