An exhibition at the National Museum of Contemporary Art in Bucharest (MNAC) features three purportedly long-lost paintings by Kazimir Malevich, valued between $160 million and $190 million. The works, loaned by Israeli businessman Yaniv Cohen, were allegedly stored under the mattress of his grandmother-in-law, Eva Levando, for decades. However, Ukrainian-American art historian Konstantin Akinsha has publicly questioned their authenticity, citing incomplete provenance and a lack of consensus from international experts. The museum has faced criticism for including the paintings without additional scholarly analysis in the show "Kazimir Malevich: Outliving History," curated by Mariana Dragu and sponsored by a dental clinic owned by Cohen.
This controversy matters because it highlights the persistent problem of forgeries in the Russian avant-garde market, where provenance gaps from the Soviet era are easily exploited. If the works are fakes, the case would represent one of the most audacious attempted frauds in recent art history, potentially involving tens of millions of dollars. The incident also raises questions about institutional due diligence and the ethics of exhibitions sponsored by lenders, as well as the broader challenge of authenticating works from a period when official records were suppressed.