Peter Robert Keil, born 1942, belongs to the generation of Berlin’s “Junge Wilde” – a painter of enormous productivity, with companions such as Otto Nagel and a body of work that has been collected for decades. The Keil Collection Heidelberg has been a partner and supporter of the artist for over a decade. For the Collection, I have accompanied central projects over the years: exhibitions, trade fair presentations, special auctions – and the most important task of all: the fight for authenticity.

This is precisely the challenge with Keil: the market is saturated. Countless works circulate in online commerce whose provenance and authenticity are seriously questionable – an untenable situation for the artist, his collectors and the market.

Catalogue Raisonné and Certification

The answer to the forgery market is structure: the catalogue raisonné Peter Robert Keil (WVPRK). Each work is examined twice – by the artist himself and by independent experts; only unambiguous originals are included, questionable works are placed on a negative list. On authentication days in Heidelberg, collectors travelled from across Germany – from Berlin to Munich. In total, we have assisted over 300 collectors in having their works certified. Originals receive an authenticity stamp and certificate.

AI Against Art Forgeries

The next step leads into my second domain – digitalization: together with the renowned US-based research couple Steven and Andrea Frank, I co-developed an AI system that certifies works by Peter Robert Keil with 98% accuracy and identifies forgeries. A neural network trained on the verified body of work – art history and machine learning at the same table.

Exhibitions, Trade Fairs, Special Auctions

Beyond authentication work, I have accompanied the visibility of the Collection: the anniversary exhibition “IchFarbe – ein Maler sagt ich” in the Ottheinrich Building of Heidelberg Castle for the artist’s 80th birthday, the artist-in-residence programme with exhibition at the Xylon Museum in Schwetzingen, presentations at art KARLSRUHE, and special auctions featuring works from the Collection.

What This Project Demonstrates

The Keil Collection combines everything that defines my work: collection management over years, exhibition and trade fair projects, auctions – and the deployment of new technologies where they create genuine value. Protection against forgeries is not a side issue, but rather the foundation for an artist’s market to function at all.

Further information: Collections & Estates · Digitalization & AI · Collection website: keil-collection-heidelberg.de