Is Van Gogh’s ‘Sunflowers’ Actually A Fake? | The Authenticity Of The Sunflowers

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  • Опубликовано: 4 окт 2024
  • Was the most expensive painting ever sold at auction a fake? This award-winning documentary explores the authenticity of the Sunflowers painting by Vincent van Gogh, bought in the late 1980s for a then record sum by a Japanese insurance company.
    In 2002, the painting went on public exhibition alongside an undisputedly genuine version of Sunflowers, raising once again the questions so vividly posed in this film.
    It's like Netflix for history... Sign up to History Hit, the world's best history documentary service, at a huge discount using the code 'TIMELINE' ---ᐳ bit.ly/3a7ambu
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    This channel is part of the History Hit Network. Any queries, please contact owned-enquiries@littledotstudios.com

Комментарии • 1,1 тыс.

  • @ThePhantomSafetyPin
    @ThePhantomSafetyPin 5 лет назад +420

    This is simultaneously the most interesting yet dry documentary I have ever seen.

    • @Frisenette
      @Frisenette 5 лет назад +57

      If by “dry” you mean no hammy dramatizations and no unmotivated use of cookie cutter music? Then yes dry.
      It’s good exactly because it’s on point and no nonsense.

    • @Swonder1972
      @Swonder1972 5 лет назад +18

      Yes, museum people are terrible orators...

    • @ISCDESIGNAustralia
      @ISCDESIGNAustralia 5 лет назад +3

      agree

    • @damiencallaghan9389
      @damiencallaghan9389 5 лет назад +11

      You are an American Do not deny it I Know its true Everyone knows it is true so do not deny it

    • @a.a.s.3799
      @a.a.s.3799 5 лет назад +6

      ​@@damiencallaghan9389 you're saying it like it's a sin... let the guy/girl have a personal opinion and move on.

  • @davidvdmerwe1997
    @davidvdmerwe1997 5 лет назад +269

    That's RUclips. I started by watching how to make sushi and now I learned things about Vincent.

    • @rascallyrabbit717
      @rascallyrabbit717 5 лет назад +8

      I was watching a few 'opening vintage army MRE's ' and ended up here. Van Gogh _is_ my favourite thou I'm not sure how youtube knew that

    • @carmenfestas1
      @carmenfestas1 5 лет назад +4

      hahaha!

    • @GypsyEncounters
      @GypsyEncounters 4 года назад +2

      🤣🤣🤣

    • @carolynboyd6796
      @carolynboyd6796 4 года назад +4

      O M G I LOVE YA COMMENT. I KNOW THE FEELING.

    • @christiangeiselmann
      @christiangeiselmann 4 года назад +7

      When did Sushi live, and what prices do his paintings have today?

  • @carolking6355
    @carolking6355 2 года назад +8

    Wonderful. The prices are unbelievable. Nearly 70 years ago my art teacher took our class to a film on Van Gogh. I was too young to appreciate it.

    • @larsdejong5943
      @larsdejong5943 Год назад

      yes, yes. funny thing to end up here, eventually. what makes you have intrest in van Gogh now ?, where as you didn't have any intrest nearly 70 years ago. i have this experience, one day i got detention, made to go out of the class for being a little stubborn kid, in the class room designated for punishment, sitting out the hour until the next class starts. in the detention class room i couldn't take my eyes of this van Gogh painting (sunflowers), a poster of it in a frame, and i thought to myself, i will never be able to do something like this. not even realizing whom the painter that painted that painting made poster is. until i am now retrieving memories from long ago, some neuro regeneration thingie going on. having this memorie come back to me.

  • @deenamorgan6674
    @deenamorgan6674 6 лет назад +207

    Fascinating! I find it terribly sad that people buy gorgeous masterpieces, then have to keep them out of sight in a vault. I'd rather have a known copy and hang it where I can see it all the time.

    • @ilanarhian
      @ilanarhian 6 лет назад +14

      Deena Morgan I do think it’s a shame they don’t just loan it to a gallery. It would be safe there

    • @JBrandeis1
      @JBrandeis1 5 лет назад +5

      @Aintjack If your taste is as good as your writing, you are spending your money wisely.

    • @JBrandeis1
      @JBrandeis1 5 лет назад +2

      Anyone who spells impostor with an e does not deserve to be heard.

    • @bio-plasmictoad5311
      @bio-plasmictoad5311 5 лет назад +6

      @Aintjack You have a pedestrian outlook on art if you think skill alone makes one painting or artist superior than the next. Vincent painted in styles and was exploring styles and what they brought to his work. If he wanted to he could paint realistic paintings with realistic styles. Art is not all about how real you can draw and paint, that's just one small aspect to a massively complex and often misunderstood subject.

    • @bio-plasmictoad5311
      @bio-plasmictoad5311 5 лет назад +1

      @Aintjack yes but it don't mean you have it, thousands would disagree with you.

  • @raywhittington1368
    @raywhittington1368 5 лет назад +13

    This is a delightful look into the wealthy class society, as well as of the subject matter of fake art. Fascinating and very good watching documentary.

  • @danut1970ro
    @danut1970ro 4 года назад +23

    And my father was a painter and he painted one painting in several different variants so it can be all original if the laboratory analysis confirms the authenticity of the colors used during the painter's life a mixture of unique colors

    • @toomignon
      @toomignon 2 года назад +2

      The authenticity of colors is not as useful, since these were allegedly painted by contemporaries of Vincent who had access to the same materials and likely within 10-20 years of his death.. It’s the intensity of the pigment, not the type that is the only distinguishing feature in the materials.

  • @timward3116
    @timward3116 3 года назад +13

    Isn't it interesting that the monetary value of a work is far more dependent on the name of the person who supposedly created it than on the quality of the work itself? A painting by Van Gogh of a pile of dung could be worth millions of dollars. Yet an almost identical or even aesthetically superior painting of a pile of dung by an unknown would be worth nothing. When it comes to collectors and investors, it isn't the quality that matters; it's the prestige associated with the name. Of course, poor Vincent was virtually penniless when alive because nobody thought his work was worth anything. It is an absolutely crazy world.

    • @MY-ce2qt
      @MY-ce2qt 2 года назад +2

      That’s why my judgement of painting is not based on the artist but by the feelings the art work send me.

    • @timward3116
      @timward3116 2 года назад +3

      @@MY-ce2qt I suspect that the very rich often have no artistic sense and must therefore rely on someone to tell them what to buy and how much to pay. There are a ton of really great artists who paint after their mundane 9-5 jobs in their basements, garages, or spare rooms. And even many of the masters didn't paint all of their commissions; they had students doing it. M Y, I agree with you completely!

  • @bricaf
    @bricaf 3 года назад +3

    I've been to the now expanded Van Gogh museum/gallery in Amsterdam, this is a fabulous documentary, I truly enjoyed it!

  • @kayfletcher4169
    @kayfletcher4169 3 года назад +4

    Fascinating documentary. Vincent's room is heartbreaking.

  • @rosssmith8481
    @rosssmith8481 4 года назад +24

    I had to click this, cause I just finished a Van gough painting for my wall.

  • @englishrose4388
    @englishrose4388 2 года назад +4

    Truly fascinating and well worth watching. What Tom Hoving, the ex-director of the MET, said truly made sense--that it's muddy and doesn't have the snap that Van Gogh's paintings have. And, when you look at the supposed faker's paintings--they're muddy, and don't have snap...

    • @silva7493
      @silva7493 2 года назад

      That comment was so on point. We knew just what he meant, didn't we!

    • @Tugela60
      @Tugela60 Год назад

      That is like those wine connoisers who wax on about how great this or that wine is, but remove the label and suddenly they can't tell them apart, lmao.

  • @donemigholzjr.7344
    @donemigholzjr.7344 3 года назад +5

    The easiest way to tell a Original Van Gogh is that he painted exactly as if he drew it but instead of pencils or charcoal he used paint. He mastered drawing at a very early age. Vincent used hashmarks and cross hashing very efficiently. Very analytical but when he added color, the freedom came naturally almost by accident but it was still analytical, efficient in the most beautiful way.

  • @maunster3414
    @maunster3414 5 лет назад +7

    I had an interesting thought about the painting in question. Something to the effect of Van Gogh not painting when he wasn't well. I'm supposing, wondering if perhaps he attempted to paint when he wasn't well and this is one of the studies done when he wasn't well, but didn't like it enough to sign or write about.

    • @bio-plasmictoad5311
      @bio-plasmictoad5311 5 лет назад +5

      It's possible, there is a misunderstanding that Vincent would paint while he was very unhappy. But he painted while he felt ok and lucid and could concentrate on his art. I'm the same as I can only paint when I'm content and somewhat happy, while I'm unhappy the artist in me simply is somewhere else.

  • @smentina
    @smentina 4 года назад +3

    This is a movie of quality no doubt. And the plainness and eventuality of expertise are astonishing,-- how was it possible to gather all three on one screen!?

  • @fpham8004
    @fpham8004 5 лет назад +57

    The best is to ask other forgers about it. They are well trained to spot stuff and also have big egos and would love to point the problematic parts.

    • @kevinmorrice
      @kevinmorrice 5 лет назад

      just go to dafen city

    • @sytran666
      @sytran666 5 лет назад +1

      No way, it'll turn out like ancient aliens show

    • @blackbird5634
      @blackbird5634 4 года назад +4

      @@kevinmorrice Communist countries like China and Russia have amazing artists who can draw and paint like old masters because they use every single ounce of their materials as if it were precious as gold.
      Art supplies aren't cheap. Learning to see before you start drawing, learning to draw before you start painting and learning to use color before you're allowed to call yourself an artist is all part of the plan.
      In the US a kid with a skateboard and video equipped helmet is called an 'artist' before he's 20 and nothing comes from him but more 'radical' moves than the last vid.

    • @anti-ethniccleansing465
      @anti-ethniccleansing465 4 года назад +1

      black bird
      Lmfao. Nice pro-communist anti-American pr0paganda. 😂

  • @bethbartlett5692
    @bethbartlett5692 5 лет назад +17

    Have a theory -
    *(The painting is authentic - he was testing elements of paint compounds* - *He never intended to release it - thus never signed the painting* -
    *Possibly did it 1st, liked the subject, but wasn't pleased with the paint clarity, once dry.)*
    I know absolutely nothing about this case - it merely is a mix of intuition, logic, and an understanding of the era Artitst's search for improvements of their tool products.

    • @elvis459
      @elvis459 5 лет назад +5

      I had a similar theory, however, I think that the painting he calls fake, is actually the last in the series. The first on the left, has little or no shading, the second, on the right has some shading and you can almost see the beginning of the stem running through the leaf. The third, in the middle, has more depth, more outlining and more shading which is why it seems more apparent that the stem appears to run through the leaf.

    • @harrickvharrick3957
      @harrickvharrick3957 5 лет назад +2

      nonsense.

    • @yoepix
      @yoepix 5 лет назад +5

      elvis459 also the stem could break if he is painting the same flowers as they age. The differences in the flowers dying could account for changes in how he perceived and painted them.

    • @discoveringvangogh2692
      @discoveringvangogh2692 3 года назад

      He only signed 1/6 of his 800+ paintings re VGM.

    • @-The-Darkside
      @-The-Darkside Год назад +1

      There's been many tests since, it was found it to be real

  • @melware2784
    @melware2784 4 года назад +5

    Just by way of interest, the sunflowers in the famous paintings are a quite different species of sun flowers to the commercial field crop variety so happily displayed in the so very interesting programmes , does it matter, not really.

  • @danielpittenger5496
    @danielpittenger5496 6 лет назад +54

    Very good documentary...thank you for posting.

  • @annereilley4892
    @annereilley4892 6 лет назад +8

    I learned art by copying paintings and drawings to learn their techniques. If I'd only known I was sitting on a gold mine, I could have auctioned mine off for millions and gone to Brazil before they realized. :)

  • @hakapik683
    @hakapik683 6 лет назад +36

    Vincent was known for doing more than one painting of the very same subject, so in the case of the 2 paintings they compare at the 39:20 mark could very well be both by Vincent.. the "low quality" one was the first one he painted, was not totally happy with it, and then painted the masterpiece. Or possibly the first "low quality" one was simply a test painting, to see if he wanted to do a "better" one.

    • @markotienhaara3267
      @markotienhaara3267 2 года назад +4

      I highly doubt it because the mistakes made in the stem and the leaf. He would not have made such an error on just one painting.

    • @j.dallesandro5576
      @j.dallesandro5576 2 года назад +1

      Thank you setting us straight 🙏

    • @plutoniumpie
      @plutoniumpie 2 года назад +1

      Eeeeh, no

    • @cassandragaisford2777
      @cassandragaisford2777 Год назад

      what if this was the one he did for Gauguin mentioned in his letters to Theo and he made the error intentionally

  • @alejandrogonzalezlopez5883
    @alejandrogonzalezlopez5883 6 лет назад +5

    Yellow as a life giving color? Gee, as a watercolorist yellow takes my life away! I can't buy yellow tubes fast enough! My yet unanswered question to my mentors is "How can I use less yellow???"
    Great documentary, thanks for posting!
    >One Love<
    -A

  • @greyedgerton2890
    @greyedgerton2890 5 лет назад +35

    Something the narrator said
    brought to my mind a pathetic reality: some years ago I was alerted to the pitiful reality and scope of greed. A favorite work of mine was on exhibit in both London as well as in Los Angeles, and of course this was not possible. Easy enough to solve you would say. To be sure, sooner rather than later the copy would be exposed, some degree of integrity would raise their hand. That was a very long time ago, it remains still.
    If it is to be believed, neither
    museum was willing to submit their work for true authenticity. I thought this truly too incredible to be the truth. Both were afraid of possible exposure.
    If there is any moral here,
    it may be an ostensibly inverse relationship between truth and money.

    • @MandyJMaddison
      @MandyJMaddison 5 лет назад +6

      Many artist's studios produced copies of paintings that were done initially by the artist. A studio copy may be finished and signed by the artist himself. Rubens, for example, left catalogues describing some of his works as entirely by his own hand, some as by students retouched by his own hand, and some as "by my best student", meaning Anthony van Dyck.

    • @greyedgerton2890
      @greyedgerton2890 5 лет назад +4

      MandyJMaddison Thank You Mandy.

  • @mbaker335
    @mbaker335 6 лет назад +3

    Hiding a possible/probable fake puts into question every other work of art that company may have. It is not clever to hide the fake but could be accounting fraud if they count it as an asset on the books.

  • @LNLN123
    @LNLN123 6 лет назад +3

    What I find it interesting is that after years pass by suddenly people in general come up and say that these paintings that they discovered belonged to some famous painters ... I don’t know if it’s real or fake to sell them , of course aside of the famous paintings

  • @pocono_paintball
    @pocono_paintball 5 лет назад +5

    If I was in possession of a masterpiece I believed was authentic while others expressed doubts, I wouldn't hesitate to have it verified. The Japanese company's reluctance to subject the painting for verification seems to indicate they aren't as positive about the paintings origin as they would like to appear.

    • @crosskatt
      @crosskatt 5 лет назад

      what reluctance??? they did many years ago!!

    • @karenmarshall5444
      @karenmarshall5444 2 года назад

      Disagree. They like the painting. It’s the rest of the world that’s obsessed with money.

  • @mon_avis2978
    @mon_avis2978 2 года назад +8

    I suspect there was something about the Van Gogh painting destroyed in WW2 that the Japanese populace had developed such lore and attachment to Van Gogh the painter. The documentary said it was a bona fide original of five sunflowers. The fact that the Yasuda painting is predominantly yellow, a color associated with the emperor, must have something to do with it, I'd guess, as well as why so many Japanese make pilgrimages to Van Gogh's grave. Tremendously interesting documentary.

    • @kevinmorrice
      @kevinmorrice Год назад

      yeah, its a china situation i believe which is "we say its real, agree or else"

  • @stephaniemarie2074
    @stephaniemarie2074 4 года назад +31

    Buy local art by starving artists..you never know if will become a masterpiece

    • @jeancarlosartist
      @jeancarlosartist 4 года назад +3

      Stephanie Marie local artists here are just trendy. If I ever spot something I really like I would get it though.

    • @pranusa95
      @pranusa95 4 года назад

      wolfgang?

    • @sandrajohnson2489
      @sandrajohnson2489 3 года назад +2

      I am a local artist and recently I sold eleven paintings to one person on Ebay. He is having the paintings framed and will sell them in his store. I've never sold a painting in my life and was pleasantly shocked when my paintings sold.

    • @jamesanonymous2343
      @jamesanonymous2343 3 года назад

      YEARS AGO A GUY WANTED TO SELL ME 25% INTEREST IN THE BROOKLYN BRIDGE, I DECINED I WONDER
      WHAT IT WOULD BE WORTH TODAY

    • @zenoist2101
      @zenoist2101 3 года назад +1

      I'm an artist and we are always broke. We spend our money on paints.I can get cheap canvases from charity shops and paint over them.

  • @taylorj6177
    @taylorj6177 5 лет назад +46

    Wow. That dude called it with the way the stems were painted and everything... i think it's fake.

    • @kenlieberman4215
      @kenlieberman4215 5 лет назад +2

      The painting has been authenticated. Van Gogh did a third painting after then flowrs had wilted - this was actually documented.

    • @taylorj6177
      @taylorj6177 5 лет назад +8

      @@kenlieberman4215 Where? And "wilting" would not produce these effects in a plant. Wilting does not defy physics...

    • @anti-ethniccleansing465
      @anti-ethniccleansing465 4 года назад

      KEN LIEBERMAN
      ^obvious troll account.

    • @AnyoneCanSee
      @AnyoneCanSee 4 года назад

      @@kenlieberman4215 - You work for the Japanese do you. Actually it is a confirmed a fake now.

  • @koninginvictoria
    @koninginvictoria 6 лет назад +131

    I give tours at the Van Gogh Museum. I look at his paintings almost every day. The Sunflowers in Japan is such an obvious fake. I can't believe they have gotten away with this for so long. But the painting's buyer also paid for the special exhibitions building at the museum so I think they paid off some people to keep quiet about it. If I can see it's a fake, they know it too.

    • @crosskatt
      @crosskatt 6 лет назад +13

      I hope you give your last tour today,as the vGogh museum published in their Journal in the 90s that it is an original;apparantly you are unaware,so disinterested and prone to make more mistakes.

    • @PeaceForSkulls
      @PeaceForSkulls 6 лет назад +30

      @@crosskatt yeah you should know stuff since you read an article

    • @jesseatwater393
      @jesseatwater393 6 лет назад +5

      Lucky you. I love that museum. Seeing the grave sites at the end always moves me to tears, and that doesn't happen to me easily.

    • @mattkaustickomments
      @mattkaustickomments 6 лет назад +18

      crosskatt, modern review disputes that assertion. And modern forensics would def prove it’s a fake. But the owners will NEVER allow close scrutiny. If they did, expect several Insurance execs to commit Hari Kari!

    • @higgins382
      @higgins382 6 лет назад +3

      It is a dull and uninteresting painting. If this is Van Goch, it is an embarrassment to him, and I doubt that.

  • @fabrizio483
    @fabrizio483 4 года назад +9

    Gorgeous accent the lady has. I wish I could speak like that without being mocked.

  • @davefoc
    @davefoc 5 лет назад +5

    The examples of Schuffenecker 's work in the video seemed to be more skillfully done than the Yasuda Sunflower painting to me. Maybe the Yasuda sunflowers is a fake but Schuffenecker wasn't the artist?

  • @Landrew0
    @Landrew0 5 лет назад +20

    The best fakes are never discovered.

    • @sandrajohnson2489
      @sandrajohnson2489 3 года назад +4

      There is a documentary on here that discusses authentic paintings versus fakes. The professionals said there are so many fakes even they can't tell the real ones from the fake ones any more.

  • @peezebeuponyou3774
    @peezebeuponyou3774 5 лет назад +6

    The sunflower doesn't produce turpentine; it can be used as a thinner for paint- ie as a turpentine substitute.

  • @RollingOrmond
    @RollingOrmond 5 лет назад +2

    Very good doc., brisk, no BS pace and narration. Some of this youtube vids wander off...

  • @Larkinchance
    @Larkinchance 5 лет назад +3

    Style and chemistry of the paintings should give a great deal of information but to say that small minor differences in the execution of the final paintings is not necessarily conclusive because Van Goth was making a casual copy, not an absolute duplication.

  • @stevesadler6429
    @stevesadler6429 5 лет назад +2

    I have been to the van gogh museum in Amsterdam a few times the depth of the pictures are amazing -reminds me the difference between a madman and a genius - money that's all

  • @seffalohpod
    @seffalohpod 4 года назад +4

    The painting in dispute could have been a first study - which Vincent wasn't satisfied with, and so he didnt sign it. If it were a forgery, meant to fool unwary buyers, wouldn't the forger have signed it?

    • @paulm8084
      @paulm8084 2 года назад

      I agree. Unless it was never intended to be a forgery, just a copy.

  • @pythagorasmathematik9585
    @pythagorasmathematik9585 4 года назад +2

    The real question is why a pictures worth is determined by who painted it and not whether it's a good painting.

  • @robertedwards3654
    @robertedwards3654 6 лет назад +6

    I remember seeing the doc when it was first shown. Then and now, I'm not convinced. They talk of 5% of the painting that is 'odd' but what about the other 95%?

    • @ArcDevErik
      @ArcDevErik 4 года назад

      Think you missed the entire part about the guy that copied it.

  • @geraldmartin8195
    @geraldmartin8195 5 лет назад +12

    Thank you for this fascinating, thought provoking, and relentless documentary.

  • @yugorc2248
    @yugorc2248 6 лет назад +158

    What's with all the ads every 5 minutes

    • @QueenBee-gx4rp
      @QueenBee-gx4rp 6 лет назад +10

      Yugo Boss Get You Tube Red-I haven’t seen an ad in two years.

    • @Anonymous-or4ru
      @Anonymous-or4ru 6 лет назад +35

      Download Ad Blocker, it'll never be an issue again. And it's free

    • @area51r
      @area51r 6 лет назад +11

      you need an extension called adblocker. i have not seen an ad in at least 8 years

    • @AndersPuschel
      @AndersPuschel 6 лет назад +5

      Queen Bee Me neither, except I use AdBlock. I don't understand why people go on about the ads being a problem, when it's so easy to solve. It will be another matter if (or when) RUclips decides to block AdBlock.

    • @eddy4688
      @eddy4688 6 лет назад +2

      How have people not heard of Ad Blocker by now? It's so ridiculously simple to find and sort out.

  • @professorsogol5824
    @professorsogol5824 4 года назад +1

    I am a bit confused. We have a great deal of discussion of three putative Van Gogh paintings of sunflowers: the London painting, the Van Gogh Museum painting and the Yasuda painting. We are told two paintings of sun flowers are mentioned in Van Gogh's letters to his brother. Also mentioned from time to time is the Van Gogh painting of sunflowers destroyed in the fire bombing of Tokyo in 1945. Which painting was that?

  • @William_sJazzLoft
    @William_sJazzLoft 5 лет назад +6

    Christies apparently has some complicity in the fake scandal. They should have more rigorously investigated the provenance

  • @jude1143
    @jude1143 6 лет назад +4

    Painting is about mood, feelings, and all thats going on within someones mind. It can change day by day. One day maybe a master piece, the next day not so good not so bright, not so moving. Not a good day for getting it right.He was human like use all.

  • @patrickr5359
    @patrickr5359 5 лет назад +16

    What I find *DISGRACEFUL* is we all know how poor Vincent struggled to make a living. He was mocked and teased. The *INSULT* to injury is the faking and capitalizing of 'The Sunflowers'. The incredible artist who painted 'Stary Night' was a brilliant, misunderstood soul. I'm so sorry Vincent...

    • @nicywicy
      @nicywicy Год назад

      This is the same tale of a lot of 'famous' artists. Back then they just waited until they died and then decided they had value so the original creator never got out of poverty. His artwork is ugly, nothing interesting about it, reminds me of a bad song that becomes popular just cause and pay billions for, people suck at being sophisticated in any sense wish vampires existed to laugh and mock our stupidity as creatures.

  • @ggghhjd
    @ggghhjd 3 года назад +2

    A lot of the crass commercialism mentioned at the end in connection to the exploitation of Vincent's work is done by the Van Gogh family museum itself, where you can get mugs, ties, drinks coasters, jigsaw puzzles, and so on. But this is normal for museums these days

  • @dibaldgyfm9933
    @dibaldgyfm9933 5 лет назад +5

    The yellow has faded, what a sad picture. The flowers were originally bright yellow.
    The highest price! But the picture isn't even really good. The yellow has faded terribly and van Gogh could be much better. And the background ... sigh. Could these buyers really not see for themselves?
    Gee I get emotional when I hear that it was Johanna, Theo's widow, who inherited all paintings and letters and transcribed them and created the fame of Vincent. Well done, widow!!! ❤

  • @fergalfarrelly8545
    @fergalfarrelly8545 5 лет назад +4

    There was a new brilliant yellow pait that Von Gogh couldn't get enough of. Uranium based i think and it has decayed. It would have looked totally different yellow when Van Gogh painted it.

  • @atthebluebus
    @atthebluebus 3 года назад +3

    2:58: "As a journalist, fakes have always been my speciality." ...Awkward…

  • @SDeww
    @SDeww 6 лет назад +5

    29:36 lol filmed on a sunday early in the morning, because if the van gogh museum was open, their would be a line of people waiting to the corner of the street or longer!., you cant walk up like she did!, takes atleast 15-45 minutes to get in :P

    • @hugolindum7728
      @hugolindum7728 6 лет назад

      ....if the museum WERE open, THERE would be...

  • @alexc.c.4025
    @alexc.c.4025 3 года назад +4

    What if Van Gogh just painted the Yasuda painting as a Sketch, therefore he did not put the time and effort seen in the other 2 versions And you have 2 authentic sunflowers, so which one is the final one? A lot of artist paint a sketch before the final work, so this could might as well be a real Van Gogh for that reason. =)

  • @NewEnglandViews
    @NewEnglandViews 5 лет назад +41

    Occam's razor: If it walks like a duck, and talks like a duck, it's a fake flower.

  • @michicyrill6397
    @michicyrill6397 6 лет назад +6

    Why is it so important to spot the fakes: Because it shows the lie behind the art

  • @binmaulin892
    @binmaulin892 3 года назад +1

    This story was first told in a novel entitled A Visitor to A Paint Dealer, published in the July 2002 edition of the Chung Wai Literary Monthly. Please note the source.

  • @daniisaurushax
    @daniisaurushax 5 лет назад +4

    30 seconds in and I already learned something new

  • @ironpirites
    @ironpirites 6 лет назад +24

    Beautifully made documentary. Some of the settings in France are gorgeous and gorgeously filmed. I think it is important (to art students and connoisseurs) to discuss these things and to know about them. It sharpens one's powers of discrimination and appreciation. I'm not interested in the business side of art, but I would be if I had something to sell, or buy.

  • @paulramsey51
    @paulramsey51 5 лет назад +4

    Maybe it's just a painting that he did when having a bad week and he couldn't get it bright, the more yellow he painted on top, the browner it got.

  • @GrootsieTheDog
    @GrootsieTheDog 4 года назад +2

    The most important things said in the entire documentary start at 48:05 with the statements of the last two people - and they really point to the absurdity of the art world.

  • @slipryeel
    @slipryeel 6 лет назад +5

    Paintings, tennis players and golfers are ridiculously out of the pricing norm

  • @alexhayden2303
    @alexhayden2303 4 года назад +5

    When I was in Arles, a local chastised me for pronouncing the town name like that!

  • @shelleynobleart
    @shelleynobleart 5 лет назад +8

    Excellent doc. Thank you for posting.

  • @midnightchannel111
    @midnightchannel111 6 лет назад +22

    I read all the comments... If you do not love art, if u don't feel it, why bother watching a video about it?
    As for Van Gogh, he wasn't painting the object in front of him: if u don't get that then, again, no sense in looking at videos about art... Of u don't like art, that's ok. Vincent wouldn't care...

    • @drwcody
      @drwcody 6 лет назад +9

      He was painting the things in front of him. Do not take a 3rd partys opinion as scripture. Read what the source himself has to say about it not some wine drinker telling you they know the ins and outs of the artists mind when they are just a spectator on the side of the road

    • @maunster3414
      @maunster3414 6 лет назад

      Very well said, 2manysecrets.

    • @thomasromano9321
      @thomasromano9321 5 лет назад

      Van Gogh painted sunflowers out of his imagination? I doubt it. In Arles, France, Van Gogh painted every scene from actually setting up the still life scene, or going outside to paint. However, one painting, "Crows over the cornfield" might be the one exception: not sure if he was actually there. The painting, his last, is one which echoes Van Gogh's overwhelming despair. Yellow was Van Gogh's color of love. The Yellow House, Sunflowers, this color reflected Van Gogh's emotion of love. In the movie "Lust for Life" Kirk Douglas plays Van Gogh; it looks like the part of Paul Gauguin was played by Anthony Quinn. Quinn's resemblance to Gauguin isn't bad, but Douglas's aquiline features don't look anything like Van Gogh.

    • @drewmiele2223
      @drewmiele2223 5 лет назад

      Then you would be in agreement with the Philistines who mocked his work during his lifetime.

    • @gaygambler
      @gaygambler 5 лет назад

      midnightchannel I’m an abstract painter. And I don’t really care much about VG work.

  • @normandavies7603
    @normandavies7603 4 года назад +3

    Very interesting. There are some things that make you think for yourself. Thank you.

  • @TNT-km2eg
    @TNT-km2eg 2 года назад +1

    That top movie with Kirk Douglas and Anthony Queen was biggest homage to Van Gogh ever

  • @soxpeewee
    @soxpeewee 6 лет назад +11

    If it is "visually inferior" it's not surprising that Van Gogh wouldn't mention it. He painted a lot of things he didn't write about. Also it was recently found to be genuine. The "muddy" colors have to do with the chemical reactions of the paint to the jute material it was painted on. Van Gogh was not well off financially and frequently expiramented with mediums. Also the farther along in his life he went the darker the paintings became.

    • @hugolindum7728
      @hugolindum7728 6 лет назад +6

      The killer isn't the visual difference - it's the sister-in-law, who had all the paintings, never listed it. That is difficult to explain.

    • @thomasromano9321
      @thomasromano9321 5 лет назад

      That's true, but the darkest painting I felt Van Gogh executed was his last, "Crows Over the Cornfield," created just before his suicide.

    • @woodwanderer
      @woodwanderer 5 лет назад +1

      The painting you refer to (Wheat field with Crows) is not actually his last painting, or at least while it may have been painted late in his life there are other works that are suspected to have been painted after.

    • @mylesgarcia4625
      @mylesgarcia4625 5 лет назад

      @@woodwanderer From the grave???

    • @bio-plasmictoad5311
      @bio-plasmictoad5311 5 лет назад

      When he first started his paintings where very dark Grey's brown's and greens. He started to be more colourful as he went on, if anything his colour were more muted and or deeper, but I would not call them dark, that was his first paintings done in Belgium/Holland.

  • @granskare
    @granskare 6 лет назад +2

    I recall many years ago that Kansas made the sunflower the state flower, in Iowa they declared it a noxious weed. They often joke like this :)

  • @psefti
    @psefti 5 лет назад +11

    I love ❤️ Vincent, but his sunflower centre looks like a pimiento stuffed olive.

    • @psefti
      @psefti 4 года назад

      Doubt there were stuffed olives back then

    • @mr.ramjangles5165
      @mr.ramjangles5165 3 года назад

      Haha! You made me laugh! I like Van Gogh, too! I painted Starry Night...with yarn!
      ruclips.net/video/PiiHvc3ezIg/видео.html

    • @bostonblackie9503
      @bostonblackie9503 3 года назад

      Not crazy about Sunflowers.

  • @sabi8381
    @sabi8381 2 года назад +1

    Perhaps the "FAKE ONE" is simply a study painting by Vincent. Lots of artists out there would understand this.

  • @holymartinez5510
    @holymartinez5510 Год назад +4

    Bravo! Excelente documental.

  • @johnnydtractive
    @johnnydtractive 6 лет назад +2

    Great documentary. To me, the black heart of the art world is personified in the quote from Tom Hoving, ex-Director of the Met Museum, at 48:04 where he says "And since it's not ever going to be for re-sale, does it matter?" Or maybe not black heart--maybe green heart. The only thing that matters, seemingly, to the art world is the dollar value. Whereas Van Gogh's paintings, none of which he was even able to sell in his lifetime, were anti-materialist, about all the invisible things in life that are more valuable than money.

  • @lewis8585
    @lewis8585 6 лет назад +15

    There's one point that to me seems to make it an obvious fake. It wasn't noted in his Johanna's inventory. We are talking about a lady who was extremely meticulous and yet we are to believe she made a mistake, one single mistake during inventory and it happened to be this painting? I highly doubt that. Then if you add on all the other evidence; crappy painting technique, a poor copy by anyone's standards, etc. It is highly probable that this is a fake. The evidence that it is authentic is very slim at best.

    • @bethbartlett5692
      @bethbartlett5692 5 лет назад +1

      Have a theory -
      *(The painting is authentic - he was testing elements of paint compounds* - *He never intended to release it - thus never signed the painting* -
      *Possibly did it 1st, liked the subject, but wasn't pleased with the paint clarity, once dry.)*
      I know absolutely nothing about this case - it merely is a mix of intuition, logic, and an understanding of the era Artitst's search for improvements of their tool products.

    • @jeancarlosartist
      @jeancarlosartist 4 года назад

      Beth Bartlett and the Japanese knew it!

  • @anthonyfowler8634
    @anthonyfowler8634 4 года назад +1

    There is a very good reason to keep Vincent’s letters out of circulation but when revealed heads will spin some will role!

  • @americalost5100
    @americalost5100 5 лет назад +4

    Such a shame Theo never believed in his brother's work when he was alive.

    • @jari2018
      @jari2018 4 года назад

      When relatives has decided theri relative is crazy then there is no turning back -much like the illness itself which would imply the relatives are also affected by the same illness but in deny .Ask a alcholic is he one ..you will not get a admittance.

    • @americalost5100
      @americalost5100 4 года назад

      @cosmicVox13 from what I understand Theo never tried to sell Vincent's paintings even though he was an art dealer. They went right under the bed. Maybe I'm wrong......?

    • @debranchelowtone
      @debranchelowtone 2 года назад

      @@americalost5100 They didn't want to sell right away. They built a collection to sell later at a better price.

  • @ako-369
    @ako-369 2 года назад +1

    “As a journalist, fakes has always been my speciality.”

  • @christopherneelyakagoattmo6078
    @christopherneelyakagoattmo6078 6 лет назад +8

    I think Gauguin attempted the copy. He Did not sign it (probably ashamed at his lack of brilliance) and later gave it to his friend. Gauguin was not at all a good or nice guy. It makes sense to me that he spent a lot of time staring at those paintings in his bedroom.

    • @robertedwards3654
      @robertedwards3654 6 лет назад +1

      I can't imagine Gauguin making a copy....

    •  6 лет назад

      Gaugin lack of brilliance? LMAO.

    • @thomasromano9321
      @thomasromano9321 6 лет назад

      Yes, but you overlook Gauguin's genius and originality that was all his own, and very different from the work of Van Gogh. Gauguin, lack of brilliance? I mean huh??? Gauguin's use of color in his Tahitian phase paintings, for example, is startling in its clarity and brilliance; that I would not deny.

    • @daviddempster402
      @daviddempster402 5 лет назад +1

      @@thomasromano9321 The Gauguin painting of Van Gogh painting Sunflowers is AMAZING !

    • @thomasromano9321
      @thomasromano9321 5 лет назад +1

      @@daviddempster402 I have not seen it, but I'm not surprised. Van Gogh spent quite a bit of time in Arles, Southern France. Yes, the townspeople considered Van Gogh a curiosity because his personality certainly would not have fit the working class peasants who tilled and worked the fields there. Gauguin came to stay with Van Gogh and must have been there when the painting got done. Gauguin and Van Gogh did not always get along, and once Van Gogh threw a glass at Gauguin in a local drinking establishment in Arles. I think also Van Gogh was a little jealous of Gauguin's apparent popularity with the local ladies: he, Van Gogh mostly saw women in the form of prostitutes that he would visit in the local brothels. Still, Van Gogh's art reached it's zenith there in Arles, with his brush strokes imitating the movement of nature itself in the wheat fields, trees, houses and shrubbery around Arles. When I was in Southern France I wanted to make it a point to visit the Yellow House where Van Gogh had resided while he painted, but I never go t a chance to go there. (I passed through Aix-en-Provence).
      I did, however spend much time in the Van Gogh museum in Amsterdam.

  • @laneromel5667
    @laneromel5667 6 лет назад +1

    This channel constantly shows live at the top of my subscription list. Any way to disable live notification?

  • @jankocelebic5124
    @jankocelebic5124 6 лет назад +5

    Much has been said in the comments so I won't repeat...But I must point out the irony of these pictures.Worth nothing while he was alive,worth millions now.The only thing that has driven this man is his passion for painting.He will always be my favorite painter.One day I hope to visit his museum in Amsterdam.For me he will always be the best painter that walked this strange planet.

    • @ajoyandbasantibaksi5236
      @ajoyandbasantibaksi5236 5 лет назад

      Well Janko, I hope you make it to the Museum soon. I went there in 2000, was blown away totally. And would love to return, now that (I think) I understand art a bit better. By the way, Van Gogh is one of my (four) favorite painters. Two were Italian and two Dutch - any guesses?

  • @fynnjackson2298
    @fynnjackson2298 5 лет назад +1

    They wouldn't resist authentication if it was real. However the drama around them make the fakes just as important in the Vincent saga. And in this lies their value.

  • @ivorytower99
    @ivorytower99 4 года назад +3

    After seeing the Van Gogh And Nature exhibition at the Sterling and Francine Clark Art Institute, in Williamstown, MA.; it's pretty fair to say that I am now a great admirer of Van Gogh.

    • @dieSchreckschraube
      @dieSchreckschraube 8 месяцев назад

      WTF is MA? Just write out the full name. The rest of the world is too busy to learn all your dumb state abbreviations.

    • @ivorytower99
      @ivorytower99 8 месяцев назад

      @@dieSchreckschraube, "Williamstown, Massachusetts".
      "MA." = the state of Massachusetts. Donkey! Here's one you (may) figure out: G.A.F.L.!

  • @HasturYellowSign
    @HasturYellowSign 3 года назад

    The music reminds me of a cross between Charlie Brown & The Thomas Crown Affair remake. Enjoyable documentary though. The presentation style is clear and concise and serves its purpose in uniting the various clips.

  • @DANTHETUBEMAN
    @DANTHETUBEMAN 6 лет назад +4

    what are the chances that genuine paintings end up in the forgery bin?

  • @jamesanonymous2343
    @jamesanonymous2343 5 лет назад +1

    how tender the field of Sunflowers, all staring at us in that curious manner of theirs. Vincent must have been staring back !

  • @autodidact2499
    @autodidact2499 5 лет назад +7

    It's "The Fake van Goghs" not "The Fake Van [sic] Gogh's [sic]". Plural nouns are not made with an apostrophe.

    • @peezebeuponyou3774
      @peezebeuponyou3774 5 лет назад +1

      It's also 'van Gogh', with a lower case 'v'...

    • @autodidact2499
      @autodidact2499 5 лет назад +2

      @@peezebeuponyou3774Thanks for the correction.

    • @cweakley
      @cweakley 3 года назад +1

      You have a sharp eye. No educated person would make such a mistake. I suspect this documentary is a fake.

  • @skystanlake173
    @skystanlake173 4 года назад +1

    I'd believe skeptics with education more than anyone official. Skeptics have their reputation etc on the line when they come forward, official entities have their money etc on the line when the truth comes out.

  • @davidsmock8235
    @davidsmock8235 6 лет назад +61

    Anyone want to talk about the guy using NETSCAPE at 8:36? When was this documentary made? lol

    • @MrTruth111
      @MrTruth111 5 лет назад +5

      ''In 2002, the painting went on public exhibition alongside an undisputedly genuine version of Sunflowers, raising once again the questions so vividly posed in this film.''

    • @fakeplastic1826
      @fakeplastic1826 5 лет назад +46

      That wasn't the original Netscape it was a fake.

    • @whatsup4616
      @whatsup4616 5 лет назад +1

      David Smock haven’t seen those trams in many many years in Amsterdam...

    • @GS-md3hr
      @GS-md3hr 5 лет назад +3

      @@MrTruth111 even in 2002 netscape was considered outdated

    • @wynwilliams6977
      @wynwilliams6977 5 лет назад +2

      How else can you view myspace properly?

  • @thumbsdownbandit
    @thumbsdownbandit 6 лет назад +1

    Fun fact: 35:52 "Still Life with Meadow Flowers and Roses", the big flower painting with the daisies and poppies, IS a van Gogh.

    • @crosskatt
      @crosskatt 5 лет назад

      very good-this Norman woman has consequently kept her mouth shut for a long time since she was proven wrong-but a public apology? No sir!

  • @lesdobson7921
    @lesdobson7921 6 лет назад +9

    Not convinced at all. He may simply have not signed it because he wasn,t satisfied with it. Doesn,t mean he didn,t paint it !

  • @RADIUMGLASS
    @RADIUMGLASS 4 года назад +2

    The best art experts seems to be the forgers. They pay much better attention than the so called college experts.

  • @Gwailo54
    @Gwailo54 6 лет назад +16

    The Fake Van Goghs, not The Fake Van Gogh's.

    • @sytran666
      @sytran666 5 лет назад

      Van gocks

    • @MichSignMan
      @MichSignMan 4 года назад

      You capitalized the word "fake"? WRONG!!!

    • @christiangeiselmann
      @christiangeiselmann 4 года назад

      MichSignMan In a title/headline, it is correct.

    • @thomask940
      @thomask940 4 года назад

      The apostrophe denotes possession when used in the context of a noun. No apostrophe is required when used in the plural.

  • @shaunsiz.itsbetterbytube2858
    @shaunsiz.itsbetterbytube2858 4 года назад +1

    Was that David hockney doing a cameo lol waking behind the park bench

  • @lestariabadi
    @lestariabadi 6 лет назад +20

    Having close relative & many friends who are bipolar schizoafektif, I tend to think one of the prettiest painting & the ugliest copy are the genuine one. The 2nd prettiest is the fake. Bipolar schizoafektif people are brilliant, happy & smart one moment (or days) then completely dulll the next. That may be the reason why Vincent van Gogh copied his own painting, to see the difference himself, for they tend to be more sane during the dull time.

    • @lewis8585
      @lewis8585 6 лет назад +8

      If that's the case, why didn't his widow note it in inventory? You'd have to accept this is the one mistake she made during inventory. When you look at all the other factors (painting technique, lack of mention in letters etc.) that would be one heck of a coincidence.

    • @tamaraj4200
      @tamaraj4200 6 лет назад

      Learn to spell

    • @maunster3414
      @maunster3414 6 лет назад +7

      Hey Grifty Tamara, where exzctly zee schpelling mistake in dat reeply u mentshuned?

  • @frankblangeard8865
    @frankblangeard8865 5 лет назад +1

    Museums need paintings by famous artists. There aren't enough original paintings to go around. So the museums are happy to get a painting that they can say is an original even if they have to pay a high price and not ask too many questions about its 'provenance'. .

  • @jamesfarrell8339
    @jamesfarrell8339 5 лет назад +6

    I have a facinating idea
    Wait I have to wait for the commercials to play.
    Never mind I lost my train of thought.

  • @jamesanonymous2343
    @jamesanonymous2343 4 года назад +1

    Schuffeneker deliberately painted the stem broken to indicate it was his copy, not by Vincent.

  • @jaydeevp16
    @jaydeevp16 5 лет назад +7

    I think we need Sherlock here. 😂

  • @user-w8jhtre23
    @user-w8jhtre23 5 лет назад

    Original is sold,then sellers pay someone to say its a fake,then owner sell it back for lower price back to someone who is close to original sellers(without him knowing that),the new buyer has original paiting for lower price and his connection(first seller) got a precentige out of it.

  • @leona7522
    @leona7522 6 лет назад +14

    Excellent video. I enjoyed the subjective feelings as well as the objective evidence of what constitutes an original. A live musical performance cannot be faked. The experience of the music informs us of the composers intention. Perhaps forgeries could be considered variations of the original.The ultimate value of a work of art is its capacity to elevate the human spirit. A cell phone photo of a work of great art is also a forgery. And one that can uplift the soul and enhance the value of the original experience of seeing it. The feeling into what a sunflower really is doesn't require a certificate of authenticity. If the sunflowers could ‘fool’ Christies, then perhaps those of us with far lesser ability to spot counterfeits might be more concerned with what the artist was trying to communicate. Van Gogh’s original vision radiates from original to forgery to the billionth copy.

  • @Hardcastle1971
    @Hardcastle1971 5 лет назад +1

    If he was painting a picture from a freshly picked sunflowers in a vase, how long would that take before they wilted? Now imagine the next one being painted a few days after, they would be wilted even further, then the 3rd the supposed fake. If after a week of falling apart, the stems would fall over and the peddles start to fall off. So, if you notice... the first one was freshly picked, the second was after a few days, and the third was in it's dying state. Maybe, he didn't sign it. That's not unheard of from other artists.

  • @nonyadamnbusiness9887
    @nonyadamnbusiness9887 5 лет назад +20

    Every time you form a plural with 's, a kitten dies.

    • @keithbentley6081
      @keithbentley6081 5 лет назад +1

      Indians and Pakistanis do it all the time. I wonder if it is a transfer error of some sort from their languages. Quite baffling.

    • @njmccormackgmail
      @njmccormackgmail 5 лет назад +1

      Flower's, painting's, fake's.... three dead kitten's, oops four now.

    • @orrepgr2994
      @orrepgr2994 5 лет назад +3

      I hate kitten’s and cat’s

    • @troyevitt2437
      @troyevitt2437 5 лет назад +2

      It's like a poorly crafted Marc Anthony to which not even van Gogh would lend an ear.

    • @troyevitt2437
      @troyevitt2437 5 лет назад +1

      I think it was because we started pluralizing TV's and CD's as contractions of "visions" and "disks"

  • @sonomawinetourdrivers3895
    @sonomawinetourdrivers3895 4 года назад +1

    As a chauffeur I drove a French businessman and I asked what was his favorite Paris Bistro?..."I don't know" he said ..."there are so many"...keeping his secret...

    • @jamesanonymous2343
      @jamesanonymous2343 4 года назад

      Never let another know what you're thinking, it keeps you ahead in "The Game"