Find the Fake

www.newsday.com February 9, 2003 A painting by Henri Matisse that graced the walls of a museum in Caracas, Venezuela, for more than 20 years was swapped out with a fake at least two years ago, say embarrassed curators. The genuine 1925 painting, "Odalisque in Red Pants," worth about $3 million, was stolen and replaced, officials at the Sofia Imber Contemporary Art Museum said Jan. 30. They're now hunting for the original and say about 15,000 visitors monthly have been admiring a forgery. Experts discovered the painting on display was a fake on Dec. 1, after a Miami collector queried the museum after hearing - falsely - that it was up for sale.