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# Orlando Museum of Art on Probation After Disputed Basquiat Show
- URL: https://hyperallergic.com/orlando-museum-of-art-on-probation-after-fake-basquiat-show/
- Published: 2023-01-23T21:37:15.000Z
- Updated: 2025-11-24T16:04:42.000Z
- Description: The American Alliance of Museums’s sanction comes after the FBI raided the museum and seized 25 disputed paintings.
- Author: Elaine Velie
- Tags: News, American Alliance of Museums, Jean-Michel Basquiat, Orlando Museum of Art, #wp, #wp-post, #image-position-hidden, #Import 2025-11-24 09:29 (2023, 2024, part 1)

The American Alliance of Museums (AAM) has placed the Orlando Museum of Art (OMA) on probation, a rare move that negatively affects the museum's reputation and could potentially affect its ability to secure artwork loans. The decision comes after OMA exhibited a 25-painting Jean-Michel Basquiat show last year allegedly comprised of fakes. In June, the Federal Bureau of Investigations (FBI) [raided](https://hyperallergic.com/743412/fbi-seized-25-alleged-basquiats-from-the-orlando-museum-of-art/) the museum and seized the 25 disputed paintings.

AAM is the country's main body of museum governance and accredits museums based on [standards](https://www.aam-us.org/programs/ethics-standards-and-professional-practices/core-standards-for-museums/?ref=hyperallergic.com) such as collection stewardship, fiscal responsibility, and adherence to scholar-based research. Currently, OMA is the [only museum](http://ww2.aam-us.org/resources/assessment-programs/accreditation/accredited-museums?ref=hyperallergic.com) on probation out of almost 1,100 accredited institutions, although AAM occasionally revokes this status. In 2014, the group [de-accredited](https://whyy.org/articles/delaware-art-museum-sanctioned/?ref=hyperallergic.com) the Delaware Museum of Art after the institution [sold art](https://hyperallergic.com/116988/delaware-museum-plans-art-sale-to-pay-debt/) in its collection to finance debt.

OMA's Basquiat exhibition, titled *Heroes and Monsters: The Thaddeus Mumford, Jr. Venice Collection*, was heavily [scrutinized](https://hyperallergic.com/737080/orlando-museum-of-art-fake-basquiats/) even before the June FBI raid. The show opened in February 2022, boasting paintings attributed to Basquiat, all of which were being publicly displayed for the first time. The works were supposedly found in the storage unit of a Hollywood screenwriter who had stashed them away for 30 years. A particularly damning piece of evidence against the paintings' legitimacy was a FedEx logo printed on the back of one of the paintings: A FedEx graphic designer [said](https://www.nytimes.com/2022/05/29/arts/design/fbi-basquiat-paintings-orlando-museum.html?ref=hyperallergic.com) the logo was not created until 1994, but Basquiat died of a heroin overdose in 1988\. To compound the exhibition's issues, OMA's then-director Aaron De Groft paid a specialist $60,000 to authenticate the paintings and dismissed her concerns over some of the works.

![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/51/f8/51f871d8-b6be-4a73-b958-0ca4fff0110a/content/images/hyperallergic-newspack-s3-amazonaws-com/uploads/2023/01/oma.jpg)

An alleged Basquiat raided by the FBI at OMA (courtesy [@sallyevansfineart](https://www.instagram.com/sallyevansfineart/?ref=hyperallergic.com) via Instagram)

The museum faced severe [fallout](https://hyperallergic.com/754898/orlando-museum-of-art-is-re-evaluating-all-exhibitions-amid-fbi-raid-fallout/). Funders withdrew their donations and the Martin Andersen-Gracia Andersen Foundation said it would remove its collection of 18th- and 19th-century paintings. The museum ousted director De Groft, and shortly after, the interim director and board chair [resigned](https://hyperallergic.com/756497/orlando-museum-leaders-resign-amid-fake-basquiats-scandal/). The museum also canceled multiple exhibitions including shows featuring works by Jackson Pollock and Michelangelo.

The [*Orlando Sentinel*](https://www.orlandosentinel.com/entertainment/arts-and-theater/os-et-orlando-museum-of-art-probation-20230120-jnquqk7mibehletfvc7lginlya-story.html?ref=hyperallergic.com) first reported that AAM had placed OMA on probation Friday, October 20, although AAM told *Hyperallergic* it could not comment directly on specific circumstances surrounding particular museums.

"The probation period is set by the Accreditation Commission and determined based on the museum’s particular compliance issues," an AAM spokesperson explained. "To move out of probation, the museum must demonstrate that it has addressed its particular compliance issues to the Accreditation Commission’s satisfaction."

An OMA spokesperson reiterated to *Hyperallergic* that the museum remains accredited and "has been a member in good standing of AAM since 1971."

"We are working with the AAM to remove our probationary status and expect to remain in good standing," said the spokesperson.

OMA has forged onward with new exhibitions, including a current photography [installation](https://omart.org/exhibitions/relentless%5Fcourage%5Fukraine%5Fand%5Fthe%5Fworld%5Fat%5Fwar/?ref=hyperallergic.com) examining Ukrainians' resistance to the Russian invasion.