Art money laundering is definitely a thing.

There was a book called The cultural Cold War, that discussed the CIA promoting Jackson Pollocks suspicious rise to fame

Copy paste:

“During the Cold War, the CIA promoted Abstract Expressionism to showcase American freedom and creativity, countering Soviet socialist realism as part of a cultural propaganda campaign. Through front organizations like the Congress for Cultural Freedom and support for exhibitions, the agency elevated artists like Jackson Pollock, Mark Rothko, Willem de Kooning, Robert Motherwell, and Barnett Newman, whose bold, individualistic works embodied anti-communist ideals. Other implicated artists included Clyfford Still, Adolph Gottlieb, Franz Kline, and later figures like Helen Frankenthaler, all unwittingly leveraged to project U.S. cultural superiority globally.”