Over a thousand paintings hanging in prestigious galleries may be worthless fakes, painted by one destitute Hungarian refugee who fooled the global art establishment. This episode explores the life of Elmyr de Hory, the 20th century's most prolific art forger, and what his deception reveals about how art acquires value.

We trace his path from classical training and wartime survival to a decades-long career of forgery and exploitation.

• His legitimate training in Munich and Paris and the modern art movements that made his own style obsolete.
• His survival of concentration camps and the accidental first sale that revealed his talent for mimicry.
• His mastery of the pastiche, inventing new works in a master's style rather than copying existing ones.
• His exposure at Harvard's Fogg Museum when a curator spotted hi ...