This fascinating seven part series entitled "Bamboozling Ourselves", written by filmmaker Errol Morris, explores the life of Han van Meegeren, arguably the the most successful art forger of all time.

Last year, two different books on that subject appeared within months of each other. Not only did both tackle the question of fakery, they were both about the same man: Han van Meegeren, arguably the most successful art forger of all time. Edward Dolnick’s “The Forger’s Spell” was released first (Edward Dolnick’s wife is on the board of The New York Times Company), followed by Jonathan Lopez’s “The Man Who Made Vermeers.” The titles provide a clue to the different goals of the authors — Dolnick’s interest in the nature of the trickery, the spell that Van Meegeren cast; Lopez’s interest in the nature of the man who did the tricking, the man who cast the spell.

Both books begin on May 29, 1945. Shortly after the liberation of Holland, Han van Meegeren, a painter and art dealer living in Amsterdam was arrested for collaboration with the Third Reich. He was accused among other things of having sold a Vermeer to Reichsmarshal Hermann Göring — essentially of having plundered the patrimony of his homeland for his own benefit and the benefit of the Nazis. To save his skin — the penalty for collaborating was imprisonment or hanging — Van Meegeren revealed that the painting sold to Göring and many other paintings that he had sold as works of the Dutch masters were forgeries.

He had painted all of them.

 

Read the series:

Bamboozling Ourselves Part 1
Bamboozling Ourselves Part 2
Bamboozling Ourselves Part 3
Bamboozling Ourselves Part 4
Bamboozling Ourselves Part 5
Bamboozling Ourselves Part 6
Bamboozling Ourselves Part 7