
Almeida & Dale, one of Brazil’s biggest galleries, was raided by police on Wednesday.
The São Paulo State Department of Criminal Investigations (Deic) arrived at its Jardins premises with a search warrant relating to three paintings by Alfredo Volpi, valued at approximately R$6.4 million (£887,460), which are at the centre of a civil dispute.
The artist’s estate claims that gallery founder Carlos Dale brokered the sale of the paintings Bandeirinhas Estruturadas com Mastro no. 1996, Cinetico/Mosaicos and Fachadas- no 1999 in 2006 without permission. The gallery for its part said that it operated in good faith, that it never owned the works and just facilitated a sale.
Volpi, one of Brazil’s foremost modernist painters, died in 1988. The three paintings in question were reported as stolen by the estate in 2008.
‘Almost twenty years ago, the gallery brokered three works by Volpi in legitimate, documented, transactions prior to any judicial investigation. These brokerages occurred in 2006, long before the theft report filed by the artist’s family.’
‘Annulment proceedings are underway to correct this error, which gave rise to the current controversy. The gallery never owned the works, so there is no basis for any accusations of misappropriation.’
No works were taken during the raid, but a laptop was seized. The gallery says it acted in ‘good faith and full collaboration with the Justice system, in favour of the truth and the integrity of the national artistic heritage.’
The gallery has been pursuing an aggressive expansion in recent years, buying Millan Gallery this year and opening spaces in Goiânia, Brasília, Rio de Janeiro, Recife and São Paulo. A new Paris outpost is slated for 2027, and New York thereafter.