Brazilian police raid Almeida & Dale gallery

Almeida & Dale, one Brazil’s largest galleries, was raided by police executing a search warrant for information tied to three works by modernist painter Alfredo Volpi at the center of a civil dispute, authorities confirmed to Urgent Matter.

A spokesperson for São Paulo’s State Secretariat for Public Security said in an email that action carried out Wednesday is part of an investigation conducted by the State Department of Criminal Investigations, or DEIC, “through a police inquiry initiated by a court order issued in a civil action related to inheritance law.”

“A laptop was seized for analysis,” the spokesperson said. “Further information will be withheld due to the confidentiality imposed on the investigation.”

The raid was announced by Almeida & Dale in a statement on social media. The gallery said investigators were seeking documents that could aid in an ongoing inquiry into missing works by Volpi reported stolen by the artist’s family in 2008.

“It is public knowledge that Volpi's estate reported the disappearance of approximately 47 works, whose whereabouts remain unclear and are the subject of this broader investigation,” the gallery said in its statement.

According to the gallery, it acted only as an intermediary in 2006 in the sale of three Volpi works brokered by cofounder Carlos Dale, describing the deals as “legitimate and fully documented transactions that took place prior to any judicial inquiry.”

The artist’s estate has claimed that Dale arranged the sale of the three paintings without proper authorization, ArtReview reported.

The gallery said that, several years after the sale, Dale was summoned to provide clarifications about the sale and was erroneously listed as the legal custodian of the works due to bad legal advice.

“At the time, due to erroneous legal guidance including the signing of an agreement without proper power of attorney, Carlos was designated as the ‘legal custodian’ of the works,” the gallery said.

“It is important to emphasize that Almeida & Dale Gallery neither acquired nor sold the three mentioned works, having acted solely as an intermediary, and therefore never held possession of them, which makes the appointment of Carlos as custodian entirely improper.”

To correct the mistake, the gallery said a nullity lawsuit was filed seeking to invalidate the document that named Dale as custodian. A nullity action, under Brazilian law, asks a court to declare a prior legal act void if it was executed without proper authority or consent.

The gallery said that the nullity lawsuit aims to “properly correct this serious error” that gave rise to the current controversy.

“It is also worth noting that, after the report of the missing works became public, two of the listed pieces were offered to the Gallery. As an act of transparency and good faith, Almeida & Dale promptly refused the offers and immediately reported the incident to the Volpi Institute,” the gallery said in its statement.

“Almeida & Dale reaffirms its deep respect for Brazilian art and for Alfredo Volpi's legacy, as well as its good-faith conduct and full cooperation with the authorities in the pursuit of truth and the protection of Brazil's artistic heritage.”