Dear reader,
I’d like to introduce myself formally. I am Valerie Venta, and I created a fake painting attributed to Vincent Van Gogh. I don’t know if my story will be told, but when love and obsession overtake an artist, they must create and create. He was the whole reason I ever slipped my way into the art world.
When love and art intersect
I’m French and had always indulged in art, but I got more serious as I became older. When I first got out of university, I was creating works centered around impressionism but with a more abstract perspective. People had grown tired of it, and I rarely received recognition for my work. I became tired of painting and needed a change. That is when I moved to New York and got hired at the auction house in 1985.
Growing Obsession
My move to New York created something in me I’d never known. I started researching and seeing everything and anything Vincent Van Gogh. I have always been intrigued by Vincent Van Gogh. His palette, brushstrokes, and emotions seem to lift off the canvas and flow into my veins. The first painting I saw was “Irises” while working at an auction house. I was shocked at the $53.9 M it was sold for, but my motive was never about money. I aimed to give light to Vincent Van Gogh’s work when he was staying at the Hague. During his time at the Hague he mainly focused on landscapes, but had a series of prints or working class people, as well as a couple still lifes and paintings. Prints aren’t as valued compared to Vincent’s paintings. So translating a print to a painting would shed light on Vincent’s less notable works and what is often overlooked by the public.
The Steps to Authentication
I needed to defend my painting, so I would try and go undetected. I had many factors ahead of my journey.
Vincent had created a series of prints of working-class people that were intended to be turned into a magazine. He never got the chance to fully complete the magazine, but his focus on the working class is prominent throughout his work. The Orphan Man print was created in 1882, and there are about 3 different editions of the print. I wanted to focus my portrait on this man and turn Van Gogh’s print into a painting. Recreating an already known piece by Vincent can support my fake painting.
Creating the false Provenance
The Hague School
Vincent started to get commissioned to create landscapes during the early years of his stay at the Hague. He greatly admired other artists at the Hague, like Jean-François Millet. I wanted to draw more inspiration from the landscape that Vincent was surrounded by through the people he admired.
H.P. Bremmer
H.P. Bremmer was the main collector of Van Gogh’s works, and his collection was then passed down to his descendant Floris Bremmer. Floris sold the collection to a German collector Georg Schäfer.
Germany
After the collection was passed on to Floris, some pieces were sold into private collections. One of the pieces that had fallen into the cracks was The Orphan Man. The painting wasn’t too appealing due to the muddy and dark tones. It wouldn’t be automatically identified with a Van Gogh unless you knew about his time at the Hague. As the painting wasn’t the most appealing one of the descendants from the private collection had given the painting as an anonymous donation to a local library
The more time the painting is in the Library, the more time it will be building a new part of its provenance. Until one day, when someone recognizes it has similar subject matter to Vincent’s paintings.
Print to Painting
There are also a multitude of techniques that experts are looking for when authenticating a Van Gogh. I have to incorporate roughness of technique, brush strokes, paint-edged lines, etc, into this creation. It is already well known that Van Gogh had a style in impasto, but adding his range of techniques will make it harder for the experts to determine that it is a fake. Using the print as the underdrawing in the painting will also pass tests, since I have the proper materials.
The subject matter, materials, techniques, and provenance will combine to make my plan successful.