Art News

Monday August 7th, 2006

British Art Experts Say Australian van Gogh a Fake
National Gallery of Victoria (NGV) director Gerard Vaughan conceded Monday that Head of a Man would be worthless if the bulk of art historians concurred with the view of Michael Daley, director of Art Watch UK, that the NGV's prize exhibit had "all the hallmarks of a pre-existing picture tricked up to resemble a Van Gogh." Art Daily
 

It seems the National Gallery in Melbourne, Australia may have itself an expensive fake Vincent van Gogh portrait. British experts on the Dutch master have come up with a list of inconsistencies, which point toward the work being a forgery.

Some of the things that experts were critical of were; Vincent didn't mention it any letters, it is mounted differently to his other work, it has had the lower part of the painting (including the signature) cut off, and it's the only horizontal portrait by Van Gogh.

Here's what Art News Blog had to say:  "I think artists must sometimes make art experts pull their hair out in frustration. Artists experiment, they produce flops, they use different materials sometimes, and they don't always paint the same painting. Vincent could of used a different mounting method, he could of painted it horizontally, and he may not have been very happy with it, so he might of chose not to mention it to Theo in his letters......I'm not saying I think it is or isn't a real Vincent van Gogh, I'm just saying that artists can be unpredictable too." 
 

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