In the film “The Fake Van Gogh’s” British journalist Geraldine Norman wondered about the authenticity of Vincent van Gogh’s legacy. Her attention was attracted to the fact that the picture “Sunflowers”, acquired by the Japanese insurance company “Yasuda” at Christie’s auction in 1987 for a record amount (£25 million), are not signed, are not mentioned in Van Gogh’s letters and are significantly inferior in skill to two other versions of the picture. The journalist connects many art historians to the investigation, who confirm that the work is painted lubberly, the stem passes through the leaf, the petals are not connected to the center of the flower, and the brush strokes are not sure enough for the master’s hand.
In the film “The Fake Van Gogh’s”, the only experts who at that time recognized the authenticity of the “Sunflowers” were employees of the Van Gogh Museum in Amsterdam. This is not surprising for journalist Norman, because “Yasuda” donated $37.5 million to the construction of a new building in the museum.
From the story with this picture, she proceeds to the chronology of all attempts to separate the Van Gogh scripts from fakes and shows that the lack of documentary evidence gave the fraudsters unprecedented freedom in copying his works.
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