Wim Delvoye Acquitted on Appeal in Double Sale Case

The Ghent Court of Appeal has definitively acquitted internationally renowned Belgian artist Wim Delvoye of charges related to the double sale of his artwork ‘Chapel’, upholding a lower court’s ruling that there was no evidence of criminal intent. The decision, delivered on June 2, 2026, brings a decade-long legal saga to a close.

According to VRT NWS, the court found that Delvoye was not a party to the original 2013 sale agreement between a Swiss art gallery and an American company owned by an Indian billionaire. The artwork — a scale model of a Gothic chapel — had been sold by the gallery for €650,000, payable in six installments, all of which were paid. However, Delvoye maintained he never received any documentation or payment from that transaction.

The Disputed Sale

In 2012, Delvoye commissioned a Swiss art gallery to sell ‘Chapel’. On January 12, 2013, the gallery sold the piece to an American company. The buyer assumed ownership transferred in early September 2013 after completing all payments. Yet the artwork remained in Delvoye’s studio.

On July 6, 2015, Delvoye sold the same work to the Belgian company Katoen Natie for €400,000. When the original buyer discovered the second sale, they filed a criminal complaint for abuse of trust (misbruik van vertrouwen) and theft.

Court Rulings

The Court of First Instance in Ghent acquitted Delvoye on June 2, 2025, ruling there was insufficient evidence he knew about the first sale or acted with fraudulent intent. The American company and the Public Prosecutor’s Office appealed.

On June 2, 2026, the Ghent Court of Appeal upheld the acquittal. The court’s arrest stated: “It is established that the artist was not a party to the agreement between the American buyer and the Swiss art gallery.” The court further noted that it could not exclude the possibility that the oral agreement between Delvoye and the gallery stipulated ownership remained with the artist until full payment was received.

“At the very least, the contrary has not been proven and the doubt that exists about this must be interpreted in favor of the artist,” the court ruled, applying the fundamental criminal law standard that doubt benefits the accused.

Artist’s Response

Delvoye expressed relief at the outcome. “I am relieved that there is finally clarity,” he told VRT NWS. “This case has long cast a shadow over my name. Today confirms what the facts always showed: I was not a party to that agreement, and the core of this story lay elsewhere.”

The artist emphasized that his actions were consistent with standard practices in the international art market. “That is not a loophole, but the way the sector works,” he said. “If a gallery does not forward the payment and does not correctly report the transaction, there is no completed sale for the artist. You cannot simply reduce that to a criminal offense.”

Implications for the Art Market

The ruling affirms a critical principle in gallery-mediated art sales: artists retain ownership until they receive payment. In standard gallery transactions, the gallery sells in its own name, and the artist or their company is only bound when fully compensated. This practice, which the court recognized as legitimate industry custom, means that if a gallery fails to forward payment or properly report a transaction, the artist may remain unaware that a sale has occurred.

The case underscores a vulnerability in the international art market, where opaque gallery practices can leave both artists and buyers exposed. For collectors, the ruling serves as a reminder to verify that payment has reached the artist, not just the intermediary gallery. For artists, it provides legal reassurance that standard industry practices — including oral agreements regarding ownership retention — carry weight in court.

The artwork ‘Chapel’ remains in the possession of Katoen Natie. For the Indian billionaire’s American company, legal recourse would lie against the Swiss gallery, not Delvoye. Whether the company will pursue civil action against the unnamed gallery remains unclear.

A Definitive Close

For Delvoye — who represented Belgium at the Venice Biennale and has exhibited at documenta IX, BOZAR, and the Musée du Louvre — the acquittal clears his name after a decade under legal scrutiny. The Herbert Foundation describes his work as occupying “the interface of extremes, confronting contemporary art with the everyday, the artisanal with the conceptual.” The case itself highlighted the very tensions between art and commerce that Delvoye’s work often explores.

With the appeal court’s definitive ruling, one of the most closely watched art-market legal disputes in Belgian history has reached its conclusion.