If you’ve never had a few spare million dollars to spend on a painting, you probably haven’t put too much thought into how values of expensive art are determined or how great works are authenticated in a world of fakes. Though a controversial figure, Paul Biro became a go-to painting detective of sorts. He is featured in the 2006 film Who the #$&% Is Jackson Pollack, a documentary about an elderly truck driver who believes she has uncovered a Pollock at a thrift shop. In the film, Biro is presented as an expert who is using science to irrefutably identify the painting and is seen as a contrast to the opinions of the upper-class art world that determines whether a painting is real or not simply by what their gut tells them. This fascinating New Yorker piece digs deeper into Biro’s past to reveal a thing or two about forgery. While on the topic of the validity of art work, another documentary was made a few years ago that follows the story of an alleged four year old Picasso in the making, My Kid Could Paint That. Common themes arise in the Biro article and both documentaries mentioned above.