It would be pretty cool to have a Van Gogh hanging in my living room but since I don’t have $40m laying around I thought it might be fun to have a reasonable copy. Prints, though, just don’t do Van Gogh justice; you really need the 3-D effect of his layered paint to fully understand his genius.
Has anybody tried something like Instapainting? Do you think they could pull off a clone of a Van Gogh? I’m not trying to fool anyone (who could possibly think I could afford Cafe Terrace) but it needs to look good enough so it’s not cheesy.
I found this but it’s a NL site, plus I have no idea on the quality. I would pay ~$250 for a Van Gogh copy that was good enough to fool the eye on a quick glance.
I’m not an art expert, but I find it hard to believe you could get a high quality hand made reproduction for $250. I mean, maybe it would “fool” someone not familiar with the original, but maybe still not look good.
For fun, when I go to a doctor’s office, I take photos of bad art and send it to my sister. One time, a particular painting caught my attention. It was a copy of a van Gogh wheat field painting, layers and all. I’d seen the real thing, which took my breath away. I’m not an artist and could not have pointed out the smallest difference between the real thing and the copy, but the real thing was awesome, and the copy did not make me happy.
For the money, you’re probably better off buying some original art that you like.
O.P., I definitely agree that part of van Gogh’s genius is the 3-D aspect of his paintings. Lots of paint.
I have gotten a couple of giclée prints, but they weren’t 3-d (or $250). Perhaps dye sublimation, or whatever, technology has improved since then? Still, I’d pick that any day over some random artist’s fake van Gogh.
I see a market here–make prints from high-resolution photos such as this (warning–high-resolution photo) that are then embossed to approximate a 3D scan of the original.
I have no experience with that particular site, but I have bought a hand-painted reproduction.
I proposed to my wife in Vienna, shortly after we had seen Klimt’s The Kiss in the Belvedere. A few years later we decided we wanted a reproduction of it, and I found several places that sell hand-painted copies of classic works at relatively reasonable prices. Searching for versions that were as close to the original as possible, I found this place that uses real gold leaf, just as Klimt had. We ordered a 50x50-inch copy, somewhat smaller than the original, 71x71. I think we paid less than $500. It arrived rolled up, and I mounted it on stretchers myself. It’s spectacular, we’re thrilled with it, and I recommend them. (PM me for a photo.)
The same company offers Van Goghs starting at less than $300.
A quick Google search also turned up this company that specializes in Van Gogh, but they’re somewhat more expensive. There are many others. Shop around.
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