June 10, 2026

Forgeries Exhibited at Tretyakov


Forgeries Exhibited at Tretyakov
The actual artist with an actual artwork. Russian state media.

What was supposed to be an exhibit celebrating artist Ernst Neizvestny’s work turned into a criminal investigation into suspected forgeries. Between December 2025 and May 2026, the State Tretyakov Gallery displayed sculptures and paintings by Neizvestny during the “Age of the Unknown” exhibit.​ However, some of the works may actually be fakes.

Ernst Neizvestny was well known for nonconformist artworks that challenged the dominant Socialist Realist school. He famously argued with Nikita Krushchev during a 1962 Moscow Union of Artists Exhibition, in which Khrushchev called Neizvestny's and others' works as "degenerate" (ironically, Neizvestny later designed Krushchev’s cemetery memorial).

Then Anna Graham, Neizvestny’s widow, claimed that works featured in the Tretyakov Gallery exhibit are forgeries. She said she is the only one able to issue certificates of authenticity for Neizvestny’s later works, while the artist’s daughter, Olga Neizvestnaya, issues certificates of authenticity for Neizvestny's earlier works created in Russia.

This prompted an investigation that proved inconclusive, leading to a undergo forensic analysis if the 37 paintings and 10 sculptures in question.

That analysis is coming to a close.

Kommersant reported that: 

"According to the Investigative Committee, a group of forgers has produced at least 30 fake sculptures and paintings attributed to Neizvestny over the past six years. These forgeries were sold to collectors, generating proceeds of at least 90 million rubles. The collectors were unaware the works were fake, only discovering the truth after submitting them to the Tretyakov Gallery for an exhibition. Freelance curator Elena Gribonosova-Grebneva, who worked on the exhibition’s labels and explanatory texts, told *Kommersant* that the sculptures had not been authenticated prior to the show; the fraud was uncovered while the exhibition was already underway, though the identity of the person who exposed it—and the method used—remains unknown."

Meanwhile, Maxim Koshkarev, Deputy Chief of Staff of Russia’s Northern Fleet, has been charged with forging at least 30 artworks, worth about R90 million. He is now under house arrest, likely awaiting time in prison, and his property, worth some R 128 million ($1.7 million), has been seized.

Kommersant wrote that Lyubov Agafonova, an aggrieved party, told the paper that, as early as two years ago, she suspected that there were forged Neizvestny works on the art market and "had asked colleagues not to exhibit pieces that resembled copies of already known sculptures. At that time, she alleged, Koshkarev contacted her and threatened her with unspecified consequences for 'confronting dealers.'"

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