Animal Crossing New Horizons Academic Painting: How to Get, Real & Fake Differences & More

The most recent update to Animal Crossing New Horizons adds a museum expansion that can be filled with artwork sold by Jolly Redd, but the donation will only be accepted if the art is the genuine original. Sometimes, it can be tough to tell whether the art is real or fake. Here’s everything you need to know about the Academic Painting in Animal Crossing New Horizons.

How to Get the Academic Painting in Animal Crossing New Horizons

All artwork in New Horizons can be purchased by Redd when he is visiting. His boat will only appear after you’ve upgraded the museum, which you can find out how to do here.

Once your museum has been upgraded to include the art gallery, look for Redd’s boat on the northern beach on your island. Like all visiting NPCs, he visits randomly, appearing roughly once a week.

After boarding Redd’s boat, you will see a variety of paintings, statues, and other items for sale. One of the possible paintings for sale is the Academic Painting, which is based on the real-life Vitruvian Man by Leonardo da Vinci.

All paintings, including the Academic Painting, can be bought from Redd for 4,980 Bells, regardless of whether they are real or fake.

Real and Fake Differences

Fortunately, the difference between the real and fake Academic Painting is easy to spot. The fake version of the painting has clear coffee stains in a ring at the top right corner. Here is what the fake version of the painting looks like:

Those stains in the top right corner mean it is a fake version of the painting. You can still buy it to display in your house if you’d like, but it won’t be accepted by the museum.

The real version of the painting does not have the stains in the top right corner, as seen here:

The painting without the stains is the real version, so if you’re looking to fill your museum collection, this is the one you want to buy.

That’s everything you need to know about the Academic Painting in Animal Crossing New Horizons. For more tips, tricks, and guides, visit our New Horizons guide wiki.