The art world is a fascinating subject for movies. High-stake luxury items for the super-wealthy, target of cat burglars, art thieves, and larger-than-life artists themselves make for exciting drama. So do the forgers who work in the shadows copying and selling fake works of art. Here are some of the movies about these master art forgers.
There Are No Fakes 2020
The largest art fraud case in Canadian history, in which Kevin Hearn of the Barenaked Ladies is suing the gallery owner he said sold him a fake Morrisseau painting, leads Hearn into the brutal world of an art forgery ring in Canada’s north.
Made You Look: A True Story About Fake Art 2020
Made You Look is an American crime documentary about the largest art fraud in American history set in the super-rich, super obsessed, and super fast art world of New York.
Real Fake: The Art, Life & Crimes of Elmyr De Hory 2017
The foundation of today’s multi-billion dollar art market still reverberates with the beautiful lies of one of the most prolific art forgers of the last century.
A Genuine Forger (2015)
One of the world’s most notorious art forgers, Guy Ribes is profiled in this documentary. For over three decades, Ribes has scored major deals selling works by Picasso, Matisse, and other legends, with a twist: Ribes himself painted the facsimile works himself. Fake heirs, ruthless dealers, and more – it’s all here in the life of Guy Ribes, a Genuine Forger.
Art and Craft 2014
When one of the most prolific art forgers in US history is finally exposed, he must confront the legacy of his 30-year con.
Tim’s Vermeer 2013
Inventor Tim Jenison seeks to understand the painting techniques used by Dutch Master Johannes Vermeer.
The Forger 2012
A teenager wanders into Carmel, California, where he is soon introduced to the art-forgery community.
Incognito 1997
A crime thriller film directed by John Badham and starring Jason Patric and Irene Jacob. Written by Jordan Katz, the film is about a talented art forger who paints a fake Rembrandt despite pressure from his dying father who urges him to use his talent on his own original paintings. The film is notable for a sequence that reveals the specific details involved in forgery, including canvas aging, precise paints, and other deceptions.
Schtonk 1992
The slightly fictionalized story of an art forger, a journalist desperate for a big story, and the biggest press scandal in German history: the Hitler Diaries.
The Moderns 1988
A struggling artist is hired to forge paintings, causing him to cross paths with his ex-wife and her powerful new husband.
The Hot Touch 1981
A master art forger and his partner in crime, an art expert who can vouch for the authenticity of the forgeries, are making a bundle. An art dealer figures out their scheme but agrees to keep quiet if they forge some art lost in WWII.
F for Fake 1973
Orson Welles’ final film documents the lives of infamous fakers Elmyr de Hory and Clifford Irving. De Hory, who later committed suicide to avoid more prison time, made his name by selling forged works of art by painters like Picasso and Matisse. Irving was infamous for writing a fake autobiography of Howard Hughes. Welles moves between documentary and fiction as he examines the fundamental elements of fraud and the people who commit fraud at the expense of others.