Fraudulent slips: Ringling Museum unveils 'Intent to Deceive' exhibit

What drives a person to deceive? For some, it's greed — others vanity. For others, still, it's purely for the thrill. In "Intent to Deceive," the newest exhibit at The Ringling, which opens this Friday, May 23, guests can take a glimpse into the minds of five of the most notorious art forgers in recent history, whose intentions run the gamut of motivating factors.

More than just a display of convincing (and not-so-convincing) fakes and forgeries, the exhibit also offers a psychological examination of the forgers' intentions, as well as an exploration of the implicit irony of the eventual fame and collectibility that came to surround the artists and their imitations.

With resumes boasting fakes and forgeries of famous artists including Charles Courtney Curran, Honoré Daumier, Philip de László, Henri Matisse, Amedeo Modigliani and Pablo Picasso, some of these con men achieved substantial notoriety in their own rights, and today, some of their work is given the same treatment as legitimate art in galleries throughout the world.

Curator, Colette Loll, says some of the featured deceivers became so well known that she's even seen forgeries of their work.

Through side-by-side comparisons of originals and fakes, personal affects and tools of the trade, archival footage and research material, guests will be able to see firsthand one of the most prevalent problems in the fine-art world while also gaining insight into what motivated the men who managed to dupe even the most seasoned of art experts.

Museum admission is $25.