becky

so a friend of mine asked me to check on a painting he has had stashed away for decades. god only knows how long....
.... it is a VINCENT VAN GOGH, SUNFLOWER PAINTING. it is a wanna be reproduction or counterfeit would be what i would lean towards. dazed and confused please respond.

Unregistered

This morning, I was cleaning out a corner in the basement of a rental unit in Pittsburgh and found an absolutely filthy painting in what appeared to be a museum-quality frame, hidden behind a rotting mattress and tarnished bedframe.

Using a slightly damp oiled cloth on the painting's frame and a compressed air canister on the thick layer of grime on the painting, I uncovered a very impressive fake "Sunflowers" by Van Gogh. Individual brush strokes can be seen, which would indicate someone spent more time on the work than a simple silkscreen.

The quality is actually very surprising, but it is most definitely a fake. My guess is an art student who lived in the building temporarily did it for practice or pleasure. The canvas is too supple for a work almost 120 years old and stored in the musty corner of a non-insulated basement. And the frame (while ornate) did not handle the cleaning very well (odd stains appeared), and would appear to be too lightweight to be anything other than recent middle school woodshop-made.

Though to be honest, it's good enough to get a prominent placement on my living room wall. Fake Van Gogh aside, someone spent quality efforts in reproducing a famous piece...and they did it with style.