One of the biggest controversies surrounding Van Gogh forgeries and fakes has to do with his physician, Dr. Gachet. It is surmised that Gachet was nothing more than a quack doctor, whom Vincent himself thought to be as sick, or sicker, than himself. Historians have accused Gachet of poisoning van Gogh and making him even sicker, but the most intriguing accusation is that Gachet created forgeries while Vincent’s deathbed was still warm.
This rumor evolved based on copies of the portrait of Dr. Gachet that Vincent painted. In 1990, a Japanese collector bought the Van Gogh portrait of Dr. Gachet for $82.5 million (a record at the time) which has since disappeared into a private collection. This is said to be the second version of the portrait, while the first (and more well-known version) is housed in the Musee d’Orsay:
Portrait of Dr. Gachet, 1890, first version housed at the Musee d’Orsay, Paris
Portrait of Dr. Gachet, 1890, second version, private collection
One only has to compare the two paintings to see that the “first” version is of much better quality and closer to the style typical of Vincent van Gogh. The second version looks like a forgery, and not like the work of a skilled master. It is devoid of the detail and qualities that Vincent himself would have applied to the painting.
It was not uncommon for artists to create many versions of the same painting or to create copies of the same painting (for example, Monet’s water lily paintings). However, this glaring comparison leads one to wonder if the accusations against Dr. Gachet are not so far fetched.
While it is true that Vincent and his brother Theo probably paid Dr. Gachet for his “services” with paintings, it seems more and more likely that he did not hesitate to give himself a bonus shortly after Vincent died. Gachet may have had assistance from his son in painting van Gogh forgeries, and was also accused of strange behavior. To further drive home this point, Gachet fancied himself an art collector and even somewhat an artist. Gachet’s son, Paul, was a teenager at the time of van Gogh’s death, and worshipped Vincent almost to the point of obsession. The younger Gachet too fancied himself an artist and after the death of his father his obsession with their personal collection of van Gogh’s deepened. He quietly sold paintings to some, while turning away many who wanted to view or photograph his paintings.
Even though Vincent was very ill, mentally and physically, towards the end of his life, his final “paintings” show less charm, less detail and less authenticity than his prior work. Gachet and his son would have had full access to his materials including paints, canvases and samples of his work to copy from, so the possibility that Gachet created numerous fakes is quite great.
A Road in Auvers After the Rain, 1890
Did Gachet and his son create a small oeuvre of forged van Gogh paintings? We many never know for sure, but all evidence suggest that Vincent’s final works are most likely forgeries.
Otto Wacker
Otto Wacker (1898-1970) was a German art dealer who became famous for commissioning and selling forgeries of paintings of Vincent van Gogh.
Otto Wacker became an art dealer in 1925 after various false starts in other professions. He developed a reputation for reliability in the art field. The fraudulent van Goghs were probably the work of his brother, the painter and restorer Leonhard Wacker.
Wacker managed to convince prominent van Gogh experts Jacob Baart de la Faille, Hendrik P. Bremmer, Julius Meier-Graefe and Hans Rosenhagen that the paintings he was selling were genuine. The experts accepted his tall tale that a Russian had bought the paintings, transferred them to Switzerland illegally, and had commissioned an illegal agent to sell them. Experts understood the need for this Russian to remain anonymous in order to prevent reprisals from relatives who still lived in Soviet Union and supplied certificates of authenticity without proof of provenance. Thannhauser, Matthiesen and Goldschmidt galleries bought some of the paintings.
Wacker's paintings were to be exhibited in January 1928 in Cassirer Exhibition by the firm of Paul Cassirer in Berlin. It was organized to coincide with the publication of de la Faille's standard catalogue of Van Gogh's work. When Wacker delivered the last four paintings, Grete Ring and Walter Feilchenfeldt, the general managers of the exhibition, noticed the differences and recognized them as fakes. The canvases were returned to Wacker.
Further investigation revealed 33 suspect paintings, all of them supplied by Wacker. Galleries that had sold his paintings asked their customers to return them. Hugo Perls, an art dealer and lawyer who had bought several paintings, still insisted that they were authentic.[2] In December 1928 the Matthiesen gallery, with the aid of the Federation of German Art and Antique Dealers, sued Wacker. De la Faille, who had contacted the Van Gogh estate, changed his mind and listed the paintings in Les faux van Goghs (The False Van Goghs), published 1930.
The trial against Wacker began in April 6, 1932. Vincent Wilhelm van Gogh, nephew of the painter, gave the first evidence at the trial and stated that family records did not include any Russian who would have purchased any paintings. De La Faille, on the other hand, had changed his mind once again and claimed that 5 of the paintings were genuine.
During the trial, various experts did not come to full agreement on what paintings were authentic (and the argument was to continue in some circles for years afterwards). Bremmer argued that at least 9 paintings were genuine. Meier-Grafe admitted his mistake and even that the expert opinion could be fallible. Hans Rosenhagen said that 14 of the works were inferior but genuine.
Van Gogh forgeries at the Wacker trial
However, the Dutch restorer A M de Wild found that the pigments used in the paintings were not similar to those Van Gogh had used. Art restorer Kurt Wehlte showed with X-rays that the painting techniques were different (although he used a painting that was declared a forgery in the 1970s). Later it was found that the paintings had not been painted on French canvases at all.
On April 19 1932 Wacker was charged with fraud, and after an appeal, was sentenced to 19 months in prison and a fine of DM30.000.
Also, some former directors of the Bank für Deutsche Beamte, who had been speculating in the paintings on behalf of the bank, were sued.
Forged Van Gogh Self-Portrait
After World War II, Otto Wacker lived in East Berlin. He had abandoned the art market. Some paintings have since disappeared but nowadays Van Gogh experts agree that none of them are genuine.
Yasuda’s Sunflowers
Yasuda’s Sunflowers
The most controversial of all of Vincent van Gogh’s paintings has to be Yasuda’s Sunflowers. Sold in 1987 for $39.9 million dollars, art historians question it’s authenticity for many reasons. The most telling of all is that its’ provenance can be traced back to a dealer known for creating forged van Gogh’s. This is only one example of the many forged and fake van Gogh’s on the market.
