The art forger who tricked the Nazis - Noah Charney

Discover how the notorious art forger Han van Meegeren tricked the world— and the Nazis— with his counterfeit Vermeer paintings.

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It was one of the strangest trials in Dutch history. The defendant in a 1947 case was an art forger who had counterfeited millions of dollars worth of paintings. But he wasn’t arguing his innocence— in fact, his life depended on proving that he had committed fraud. Who was this artist, and why was he on trial for his life? Noah Charney investigates the notorious Han van Meegeren.

Lesson by Noah Charney, directed by Hype CG.

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[jyotsnas]

So he basically made another painting to prove his case in court? WOW.

[mk_rexx]

Him: The paintings are fake, I faked them.
People: No way the paintings are fake! You're faking it!

[racoonlittle]

When your forgery is so good your forgery gets forged.

[Coral]

This needs to be made into a movie, its so god damn interesting.

[Dylan-xlgp]

Let’s pay respect to the fact that this man forged painting because he was salty that his own couldn’t make it.

[snvsr]

You have to admit forgers (forgery artists - I don’t know the correct word) deserve some kind of recognition. It takes a lot of skill to be able to copy something so well that it’s hard to tell the original from the duplicate. Not to mention that forgers often copy things with drastically different styles, with just the same amount of quality between the two.
Forgery is an art all on it’s own.

[warrenkeystone]

The Nazis after buying the paintings: *We've been tricked, we've been backstabbed, and we've quite possibly been, bamboozled*

[ligoboijk]

His forgery was so good even after confessing people didn’t believe it.true mad lad

[thatgrrrrrl]

But did noone wonder how he was suddenly popping up with all these old paintings that noone ever saw before??

[CDio-vrbx]

“Dad look at my art.”
“Son that’s my art why’d you forge it”
“I learned from the best”
Tears rolling down
“You sure did my son”

[ctleans]

"I forged priceless paintings."
"You're a bad person."
"They were bought by Nazis."
"You're a good person."

[warrenkeystone]

Van Meegeren after none of his original paintings were a success: *I'm gonna do what's called a pro-gamer move*

[deftash]

His son forging his art is not really forgery, it's passing down the craft.

[theaslam]

*when you copy the smartest kid in class on a test, and get higher marks than him*

[TheHiroClaw]

Vermeer's paintings: doesn't exist
Meegeren: I'm about to start this man's whole career

[cornerseeker]

Identify theft is not a joke, Han!
Millions of family suffer every year

[jakamaulana]

According to him
_" The fake is of far greater value. In attempts to be real, it's more real than the real thing."_
-Kaiki Deishu

[danielschein]

I love the way rhey explained away the forger's mistakes by claiming they were the master's early work - before he got good. When people really want to get conned they'll find a way.

[nhy]

The fact that he forged Vermeer was also highly poetic in a way, both artists were not well-recognised for their art during their lifetime, so it might be a fated coincidence (or perhaps, intentional) that van Meegeren forged his artwork.

[johnjohn-]

Forgery, in its own right, is art. Today, that would be labeled as institutional critique since it tackles the art world’s obsession on the old masters’ works.