A painting in Japan's Tokushima Modern Art Museum, originally attributed to French Cubist Jean Metzinger and purchased in 1999 for 67.2 million yen ($426,000), has been confirmed as a forgery by notorious German forger Wolfgang Beltracchi. The museum withdrew the work, titled *At the Cycle-Race Track 55*, from an upcoming exhibition after experts identified synthetic pigments from after the mid-20th century. The Osaka-based seller agreed to a refund and return, completed in October and November 2024, and the painting has been removed from the prefectural government's inventory.
This case highlights the enduring impact of Beltracchi, who served prison time for forging works by modern masters and claims to have faked some 300 pieces. The incident adds to a growing list of Beltracchi forgeries discovered in Japanese museums and galleries, including a fake Moïse Kisling painting in Okayama and a suspected Marie Laurencin forgery in Tokyo. It underscores ongoing challenges in provenance verification and the vulnerability of even established museum collections to sophisticated art fraud.