Animal Crossing: New Horizons guide - Jolly Redd’s art, real or fake?

Jolly Redd has returned to Animal Crossing: New Horizons, bringing furniture and art with him.

Redd will have four different art pieces in on his boat (as well as two pieces of regular furniture). As in past games, Redd will sell genuine artworks (that can be donated to the Museum) and forgeries (which can’t be donated). Below we’ll go over how to spot a fake.

You can only buy one of the four art pieces displayed, so choose wisely. Based on our experiences, it’s possible for all four of the art pieces to be fake. It’s also possible for Redd to be selling more than one real piece of art. From counting the name plates in the museum, there are 43 art pieces to find and donate.

Once you buy it from Redd, the art will get mailed to you the next day.

Complete List of Paintings

Serene Painting
Warm Painting
Wistful Painting
Academic Painting
Graceful Painting
Calm Painting
Flowery Painting
Jolly Painting
Moody Painting
Famous Painting
Scary Painting
Dynamic Painting
Scenic Painting
Moving Painting
Amazing Painting
Quaint Painting
Solemn Painting
Basic Painting
Worthy Painting
Glowing Painting
Common Painting
Sinking Painting
Nice Painting
Proper Painting
Mysterious Painting
Twinkling Painting
Perfect Painting
Wild Painting Left Half
Wild Painting Right Half
Detailed Painting

Complete List of Statues

Warrior Statue
Motherly Statue
Beautiful Statue
Familiar Statue
Robust Statue
Gallant Statue
Informative Statue
Rock-head Statue
Ancient Statue
Tremendous Statue
Valiant Statue
Mystic Statue
Great Statue

Where do I find Redd?

You’ll need to talk to Blathers and have him mention the idea of allowing art before Redd will show up. According to a data mine by Ninji, this will happen once you submit at least 60 donations to the museum (fish, bugs, or fossils). The day after Blathers talks about art, Isabelle will warn you of shady art dealers during her morning announcements. You’ll then be able to find Redd roaming your island.

Image: Nintendo EPD/Nintendo via Polygon

Upon talking to him, he’ll offer you a random painting for a for a whopping 498,000 Bells. After declining, he’ll give you a “discount” to 4,980 Bells. This art piece will be genuine.

Donate the first piece of art to Blathers, and he’ll talk about opening an art exhibit. The next day, the museum will be closed for renovations. Another day later, the museum will open with an art exhibit and Redd will start appearing on your island on random days.

Redd shows up on a boat at your island’s tiny beach in the north of your island. The beach is all the way on the back of your island, and if you haven’t terraformed back there, you’ll likely need a ladder to reach it.

Redd’s boat will appear on random days, similar to other island merchants like Kicks and Flick. We’re unsure if Redd’s boat has any unlocking prerequisites (such as needing the Resident Services tent to upgrade to a building before he’ll show up, or needing to donate a certain amount to the Museum).

Redd can also be added as a merchant in Harv’s Island Plaza for 100,000 Bells. When he appears here, he’ll have two random pieces of art, which can both either be fake or real. On Harv’s island, you can still only buy one piece a day.

What do I do with the art?

The art can be donated to the Museum, provided that it’s genuine. It can also be used as a normal furniture item to be displayed in your home. If it’s a statue, it can also be placed anywhere on the island.

If you buy a fake, not even Timmy and Tommy will want to buy it. You’ll have to dispose of it using a Trash Can furnishing item if you don’t want it anymore. Or you can just display it and fool your uncultured friends.

How to tell which of Redd’s artworks are real and which are fake

All of Redd’s artworks are based off of real world paintings and sculptures. But the tricky fox may try to sell you a forgery that looks very similar to the genuine article. Each fake will have a visible difference from the real version.

Redd has really stepped up his game this time around and his art is pretty hard to differentiate from the real versions. Keep in mind that the differences between the real and fakes are not the same as they were in Animal Crossing: New Leaf and are much harder to spot.

In the list below, we’ll include descriptions of how you can tell the difference between a real piece of art and a forgery. We’ll keep updating as we find more.

Update (Apr. 23): While we used the painting textures from the game to list the paintings below, it appears that there have been reports of multiple types of fake paintings that were not in the textures we used. That being said, make sure to inspect the paintings carefully and compare them to the real paintings below before you make any purchases. We will continue investigating and update this guide as we find more information.