Decades ago, after reading one of the two books at the end of this video, a story in the book struck me, and has stayed with me all these years. Van Meergan took his son to an auction for one of his fake Vermeers. His son was also an artist, but didnt know his Dad was a forger. Vermeer kept asking his son at the auction, what he thought of the Vermeer. But his son kept ignoring him, commenting about other paintings at the auction instead. Finally, after several more attempts to get his son to comment on the Vermeer, the young man turned to him and said "Come on Dad, did you really think I couldnt see your style in this? You clearly painted it." I guess the moral here is, no matter how good you think you are, or how great an expert you are credited to be, anyone, at anytime, can be fooled. And no one is as great, or even as good, as they think. But whats really amazing, is if they hadnt been forced to reveal himself, because of a random fraud collaboration connection, his deception may have never have been discovered. Maybe even to this day, more than half a century later.
You’re right. I bet his “Vermeers” would still be hanging in museums and private collections. I also think he came out, not to just save his skin, but to show the art critic establishment how wrong they’d been about his talent.
maybe hitler should have just gone on and forged gothic masterpieces? could have avoided the whole war... maybe every artist who's work is too unoriginal for interest should just forge paintings instead of being dictators... The kind of spineless man who would forge a career would easily forge a dedication to hitler, but its still in print, in publication, about as permanent in history as could be
I read one of the two books at the end, cant remember which a couple decades ago. I later tried to find a video about this online, and didnt till now. It was a great book, and even after seeing all these art forgers on RUclips, for some reason, this particular story always stuck with me. You are correct, he copied the style almost to perfection, and filled the supposed Vermeer gap. In order to make enough money to get by, that had been suggested as an early religious phase as other contemporaries had done. Thats why he had such an eager less skeptical audience for his work.
he was a qiute good artist his biggest mistakes was to forge the works of vermeer, i saw some vermeer when i visited in new york 2009 and those were some amazing work of art
do u know about jill Meegeren, jack Meegeren, anna Meegeren... do you know Han van Meegeren was not caught (as u said in ur video) he was asked who sold those 9 great painting to German ... he wanted to say that those painting were belongs to him to prove his ability but just like years ago today's so called art experts are fake could not give the respect he deserved ...
'Art experts' who thinks that they have rights to dictate people what is beautiful, deserves only contempt and hate. Van Meegeren didn't like so called modern art (he wasn't alone at all) and chose old style what he loved, then he fought against all artistic ignorants. If some painter in present time would want to choose path of Titian or Rembrandt, no one has right to condemn him/her.
Érthetetlen számomra, hogy ezeket az erősen elrajzolt, anatómiailag hibás , aránytalan figurákat, miként gondolhatták Vermeer alkotásainak. Tudom, hogy "technikailag" nagy odafigyeléssel készültek, Meegeren erre komoly hangsúlyt fektetett. Tudom, hogy a művészettörténészek vágytak már a hiányzó láncszemre - a Vermeer életműből, -de akkor is! Ezek kifejezetten gyenge képek, közük sincs Vermeer tudásához. Szerintem.
+Gasztonyi Kálmán kb en is erre gondoltam mikor bemutattak Meegeren festmenyeit es mintha a szinek is masak lennenek, lehet elkoptak idovel vagy valami, de ha osszehasonlitjuk Vermeer-rel, o sokkal elenkebb szineket hasznal s a kontrast is altalaba sokkal erosebb es tisztabb. Egy masik dolog ami felhivta a figyelmemet, hogy Meegeren egyik festmenyebe a ruha nagyon csunyan van festve (itt nem mutattak) minta valami plasztikbol ontott ruha lett volna s egyszeruen anyira probal hasonlitani Vermeer egyik festmenyre, hogy nincs ahogy azt tudna valaha valaki meg azt is mondani, hogy esetleg Vermeer fiatalkori festmeny lenne.
+sasha01198 Köszönöm a megerősítést! :) Egy festmény azonosításánál elsődleges az a szempont, hogy az a "tudású" festő festhette-e? Dr. Végvári Lajos professzor egy alkalommal azt mondta, ha egy Munkácsy képről azonnali ránézésre nem tudja "eldönteni", hogy az Munkácsy, akkor az nem Munkácsy! Micsoda távolság van Vermeer ismert képei minősége és ezek között!! Hol van a - Lány gyöngy fülbevalóval - minősége ezekhez az arcokhoz??? Tényleg érthetetlen, hogy mikép' gondolták ezeket tényleg Vermeereknek!?
I am reading the book on van Meegerens by Frank Wynne. I have studied the 'fake Vermeers', and what surprises me is how anyone could have been deceived by these forgeries. The faces are bland and without character; there is no life in them. I've been looking at pictures for 50 years, and the paintings in the Rijksmuseum and Delft. No one seeing Vermeer's masterpieces should be deceived by these fakes.
I agree...I"ve looked at the original Vermeers and I cannot see how people actually thought Vermeer painted the forgeries. I mean, they are good...but not in the style of Vermeer. The details and the things that make a Vermeer a Vermeer....are just not there. I guess "love is blind" in this case. People wanted these to be real SO bad, they deluded themselves....
That could've been just part of the scam. You must butter up the mark in order to fool them! Or, he could've been a Nazi loving scumbag. How can we ever know!
Decades ago, after reading one of the two books at the end of this video, a story in the book struck me, and has stayed with me all these years. Van Meergan took his son to an auction for one of his fake Vermeers. His son was also an artist, but didnt know his Dad was a forger. Vermeer kept asking his son at the auction, what he thought of the Vermeer. But his son kept ignoring him, commenting about other paintings at the auction instead. Finally, after several more attempts to get his son to comment on the Vermeer, the young man turned to him and said "Come on Dad, did you really think I couldnt see your style in this? You clearly painted it." I guess the moral here is, no matter how good you think you are, or how great an expert you are credited to be, anyone, at anytime, can be fooled. And no one is as great, or even as good, as they think. But whats really amazing, is if they hadnt been forced to reveal himself, because of a random fraud collaboration connection, his deception may have never have been discovered. Maybe even to this day, more than half a century later.
You’re right. I bet his “Vermeers” would still be hanging in museums and private collections. I also think he came out, not to just save his skin, but to show the art critic establishment how wrong they’d been about his talent.
this is an AMAZING video thank you
He, whose work is indistinguishable from a master's, is indistinguishable from a master.
maybe hitler should have just gone on and forged gothic masterpieces? could have avoided the whole war... maybe every artist who's work is too unoriginal for interest should just forge paintings instead of being dictators...
The kind of spineless man who would forge a career would easily forge a dedication to hitler, but its still in print, in publication, about as permanent in history as could be
I am currently reading a book about Van Meegeren... Very enlightening to say the least!
His works were original, he copied the style: He was damned good!
I read one of the two books at the end, cant remember which a couple decades ago. I later tried to find a video about this online, and didnt till now. It was a great book, and even after seeing all these art forgers on RUclips, for some reason, this particular story always stuck with me. You are correct, he copied the style almost to perfection, and filled the supposed Vermeer gap. In order to make enough money to get by, that had been suggested as an early religious phase as other contemporaries had done. Thats why he had such an eager less skeptical audience for his work.
I am Thomas Berbers van der Aa my grandfather use to be one of his friends. I have in my house in Madrid 75 originals works from this artist.
Wonderful video thank you.
he was a qiute good artist his biggest mistakes was to forge the works of vermeer, i saw some vermeer when i visited in new york 2009 and those were some amazing work of art
Qu'on le veuille ou non, faussaire ou non, ce Meegeren est un peintre de génie.
Can somebody tell me the name of the music at the beginninig, please? :D
Debussy's 'Prelude to the Afternoon of a Faun'
@princesschetaw I agree, it is an excellent book, as is this movie.
Not even close to Vermeer 😎
do u know about jill Meegeren, jack Meegeren, anna Meegeren... do you know Han van Meegeren was not caught (as u said in ur video) he was asked who sold those 9 great painting to German ... he wanted to say that those painting were belongs to him to prove his ability but just like years ago today's so called art experts are fake could not give the respect he deserved ...
'Art experts' who thinks that they have rights to dictate people what is beautiful, deserves only contempt and hate. Van Meegeren didn't like so called modern art (he wasn't alone at all) and chose old style what he loved, then he fought against all artistic ignorants. If some painter in present time would want to choose path of Titian or Rembrandt, no one has right to condemn him/her.
yeah but we have a right to condem the dude who published his artworks with a dedication to hitler
Érthetetlen számomra, hogy ezeket az erősen elrajzolt, anatómiailag hibás , aránytalan figurákat, miként gondolhatták Vermeer alkotásainak. Tudom, hogy "technikailag" nagy odafigyeléssel készültek, Meegeren erre komoly hangsúlyt fektetett. Tudom, hogy a művészettörténészek vágytak már a hiányzó láncszemre - a Vermeer életműből, -de akkor is! Ezek kifejezetten gyenge képek, közük sincs Vermeer tudásához. Szerintem.
+Gasztonyi Kálmán kb en is erre gondoltam mikor bemutattak Meegeren festmenyeit es mintha a szinek is masak lennenek, lehet elkoptak idovel vagy valami, de ha osszehasonlitjuk Vermeer-rel, o sokkal elenkebb szineket hasznal s a kontrast is altalaba sokkal erosebb es tisztabb. Egy masik dolog ami felhivta a figyelmemet, hogy Meegeren egyik festmenyebe a ruha nagyon csunyan van festve (itt nem mutattak) minta valami plasztikbol ontott ruha lett volna s egyszeruen anyira probal hasonlitani Vermeer egyik festmenyre, hogy nincs ahogy azt tudna valaha valaki meg azt is mondani, hogy esetleg Vermeer fiatalkori festmeny lenne.
+sasha01198 Köszönöm a megerősítést! :) Egy festmény azonosításánál elsődleges az a szempont, hogy az a "tudású" festő festhette-e? Dr. Végvári Lajos professzor egy alkalommal azt mondta, ha egy Munkácsy képről azonnali ránézésre nem tudja "eldönteni", hogy az Munkácsy, akkor az nem Munkácsy! Micsoda távolság van Vermeer ismert képei minősége és ezek között!! Hol van a - Lány gyöngy fülbevalóval - minősége ezekhez az arcokhoz??? Tényleg érthetetlen, hogy mikép' gondolták ezeket tényleg Vermeereknek!?
I am reading the book on van Meegerens by Frank Wynne. I have studied the 'fake Vermeers', and what surprises me is how anyone could have been deceived by these forgeries. The faces are bland and without character; there is no life in them. I've been looking at pictures for 50 years, and the paintings in the Rijksmuseum and Delft. No one seeing Vermeer's masterpieces should be deceived by these fakes.
then theres the whole hitler thing
I agree...I"ve looked at the original Vermeers and I cannot see how people actually thought Vermeer painted the forgeries. I mean, they are good...but not in the style of Vermeer. The details and the things that make a Vermeer a Vermeer....are just not there. I guess "love is blind" in this case. People wanted these to be real SO bad, they deluded themselves....
ok so we're all just ignoring the dedication to hitler??
That could've been just part of the scam. You must butter up the mark in order to fool them!
Or, he could've been a Nazi loving scumbag.
How can we ever know!
He was good ; but no Vermeer . The art critics of that time were fooled by poor forgeries . Why ? Those who can : paint . Those who can't : critique .
Years ago a friend said to me... if it wasn't for us the critics would be out of work
Very bad paintings. I dont understand why nobody checked this.
Han van Meegeren was never recognized as the great painter he was in his time.
you must admit Dutch sounds so awful...like Flem gathering in the mouth with some of the words they speak.......terrible sound...
lol.......
You have to listen how English speaking Americans and Canadians sound like to foreigners. It's weird
Nah, sounds quite soothing really.
ZEUS Apolo DANK JE !
Het is de oudste van de west-germaanse talen....
Juist heel archaïsch.
Try to translate -als je wil
A Dutch friend of mine used to say “Dutch is not a language, it is a disease of the throat.”