The extraordinary legal battle between Russian billionaire Dmitry Rybolovlev and Swiss art dealer Yves Bouvier is taking centre stage in The Oligarch and the Art Dealer, a gripping new documentary thriller series examining the opaque world of elite art dealing and billion-dollar transactions…
Directed by Andreas Dalsgaard and created alongside Christoph Jörg, the three-part production premiered earlier this year at the Sundance Film Festival before receiving its full world premiere at CPH:DOX in Copenhagen. Filmed in both English and French, the series follows the dramatic collapse of a close relationship between the Monaco-linked oligarch and the Swiss businessman who helped him assemble one of the world’s most important private art collections.
The dispute erupted after Rybolovlev accused Bouvier of secretly inflating prices on dozens of major art purchases between 2003 and 2014, allegedly pocketing more than $1 billion in hidden mark-ups. The affair involved 38 masterpieces by artists including Leonardo da Vinci, Mark Rothko, Gustav Klimt and Vincent van Gogh, while also drawing attention to private sales, offshore structures and the role of powerful auction houses.
Rather than framing the story as a simple battle between victim and villain, the filmmakers explore a secretive financial ecosystem where masterpieces are increasingly treated as investment assets for the ultra-wealthy. Particular focus is placed on Geneva’s freeport storage facilities, developed in part by Bouvier, where artworks reportedly worth more than $100 billion are stored beyond public view and outside traditional customs systems.
The three-part series is available to watch on Apple.TV and MUBI.