Artist Wim Delvoye acquitted of breach of trust and theft

Artist Wim Delvoye, who was accused of selling a work of art to two different buyers, was acquitted of breach of trust and theft on Monday. The charges against Delvoye were found to be unproven by the Ghent criminal court.

At the end of 2012, Delvoye commissioned a Swiss art gallery to sell an artwork titled Chapel, which is a scale model of a Gothic chapel. On 12 January 2013, the gallery concluded a sales agreement with an American company, setting the purchase price at 650,000 euros to be paid in six instalments.

“All scheduled payments were made, so the American company assumed that it had become the owner of the artwork at the beginning of September 2013,” the court said, outlining the facts of the case. 

"Due to various circumstances, the artwork remained in the artist's studio in the meantime. On 6 July 2015, however, the artist sold the same work to Katoen Natie for 400,000 euros," said the court.

Charges unproven

Delvoye was brought to court for breach of trust and theft with regard to the American company. However, the court found the charges against Delvoye to be unproven, and he was acquitted.

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Although the Swiss gallery had a commission agreement allowing it to sell the artwork, ownership would only transfer once Delvoye had received his share of the sale price – a condition that was never met. Furthermore, Delvoye was not aware of the specific terms and conditions of the sale.

Transfer of ownership

"Based on email correspondence, among other things, it appeared that the artist had instructed the gallery to sell the artwork for between 650,000 and 750,000 euros. After deducting the commission, the gallery had to transfer 400,000 euros to the artist," said the court.

From a legal point of view, the court said that this commission agreement "is not a direct, but an indirect contract of mandate". "Since it concerns the sale of another person's property, the sale does not automatically result in a transfer of ownership," said the court.

^{#FlandersNewsService | Wim Delvoye in his studio in Ghent, Belgium © RIEGER BERTRAND / HEMIS VIA AFP}