In 2013, Russian businessman Dmitri Rybolovlev acquired the Salvator Mundi, attributed to Leonardo da Vinci. The painting by the Florentine genius is added to the works of great masters that he already owns: paintings by Vincent Van Gogh, Paul Gauguin, Gustav Klimt… An exceptional collection, created thanks to the Swiss art dealer Yves Bouvier.
But the duo broke up in 2015. Dmitri Rybolovlev accused Yves Bouvier of having overcharged him for the works of art he bought for him. According to the oligarch, the amount of the scam amounts to one billion dollars. Then begins a virulent legal battle. It lasted nine years and went so far as to splash the famous auction house Sotheby’s, as well as members of the Monegasque government.
In the documentary series The Oligarch and the Art Dealer, Danish director Andreas Dalsgaard retraces this story in three episodes. Betrayal, pride, fraud, the entry on the scene of a private detective… It has all the intrigue of a thriller, a genre from which it takes up the aesthetics. A soundtrack full of tension and dynamic editing punctuate the story, breathtaking and carefully documented.
A scandal at the heart of the art world
The Oligarch and the Art Dealer takes the form of a choral narration, carried by around twenty testimonies from journalists, art world specialists and protagonists of the affair. Yves Bouvier speaks on numerous occasions. Not Dmitri Rybolovlev, who refused to speak. His version of the facts is still reported by his lawyers. In addition to these testimonies, Andreas Dalsgaard relies on archive images and messages exchanged between the art dealer and the businessman, revealed by investigations by the Monegasque justice system.
Through the fight between Yves Bouvier and Dmitri Rybolovlev, this program lifts the veil on the obscure backstage of the art market: private sales, opaque negotiations and free ports where paintings acquired by the ultra-rich escape customs duties.
