Beltracchi - The Art of Forgery

It was a sensation in the art world when in 2006 the painting "Red Picture with Horses" by Heinrich Campendonk was sold at the Kunsthaus Lempertz in Cologne, for a world record price of 2.8 million euros. The scandal was all the greater when the painting was exposed as a forgery in 2010. In the course of the investigations, the investigators came across further forgeries, the trail of which led to the married couple Wolfgang and Helene Beltracchi. For years, Wolfgang Beltracchi had fooled even high-ranking experts with his works, and his arrest revealed the biggest European art forgery scandal in post-war history. The special thing about Beltracchi's forgeries is that he does not copy works, but the style of certain artists. He then creates, for example, lost paintings by a Max Ernst, which his wife then sold - equipped with an elaborate background story. For many years, Beltracchi was able to fool every expert, no matter how good, with his forgeries. And to this day it is not clear how many of his paintings are actually still in circulation and considered genuine.

Filmmaker Arne Birkenstock not only traces this unique art scandal in Beltracchi - The Art of Forgery. In his documentary he also tells from the biography of the now imprisoned art forger and observes him in detail at work. It's a very special story that this film tells in places with refreshingly sly humor. Admittedly, some of the scenes showing Beltracchi at work drag on a bit and, unless you are extensively familiar with the background, you wish you knew more about the whole scandal and investigation. Birkenstock only serves up this information in bits and pieces throughout the film. Without prior knowledge, one feels a little lost as a viewer, especially in the first half of the documentary.

This is made up for, however, by Beltracchi's very open and engaging manner. Of course, in the moments when he put the signatures of other artists under his works, he was guilty of art forgery, and there is also no question of defrauding the buyers of his works. Nevertheless, especially in view of the fact that for many people only the financial value of a work of art counts and that paintings are very often degraded to meaningless investments, one cannot deny the impression that Beltracchi has a more honest relationship to art than many a person who calls himself a lover or an expert. And in such cases, the thought that he has unmasked such people as phonies with his forgeries gives rise to a certain schadenfreude.

That real art lovers are not particularly well disposed towards the forgeries and their creator is, however, also understandable. That he has a very special talent, however, no one can deny. Because even the most elaborate fraud wouldn't have worked if the works weren't so successful that the experts were fooled by them. The film manages very well to present both positions without imposing a value judgement on the viewer. Of course Wolfgang Betracchi is the focus of the documentary and of course he has the sympathies on his side in the end. Nevertheless, Arne Birkenstock manages very well to give the other side enough space to be able to take a comprehensible position. Thus Beltracchi - The Art of Forgery has become a very interesting and above all highly entertaining documentary, which is guaranteed to lead to extensive discussions about the definition of art among many viewers. Worth seeing

An article by Frankfurt-Tipp