Wolfgang Beltracchi Quotes

#1. I think that the most important requirement is to capture the essence of a piece of art. You look at it, essentially absorb it, and you have to be able to understand it visually without having to think about how it was done. I was already able to do that as a child.

Wolfgang Beltracchi

#2. The trick is to paint a picture that doesn't exist, and yet that fits perfectly into an artist's body of work.

Wolfgang Beltracchi

#3. I only painted when I felt like it and needed money. But it never really became a professional thing, even though the dealers would have liked that.

Wolfgang Beltracchi

#4. For the cynic, art is defined through money. That, of course, is a very sad statement. But an artist is someone who does creative things.

Wolfgang Beltracchi

#5. Sometimes I smoked opium. And I also took LSD - for a while, quite a lot of LSD, in fact. But I never had any bad experiences. I stopped in 1985. I'd had enough, and I don't miss it, either.

Wolfgang Beltracchi

#6. I went to the flea market in the morning and charged tourists money to take pictures of me. I looked pretty wild, with hair down to my waist, Indian robes, a floor-length fur coat. There must be lots of photos of me out there.

Wolfgang Beltracchi

#7. Most forgers are caught because they tell the wrong person about what they do.

Wolfgang Beltracchi

#8. No one ever ordered anything from me. I painted because I wanted to.

Wolfgang Beltracchi

#9. I lived on a houseboat in Amsterdam for a year. It was intense, and it's possible that I even had a few blackouts.

Wolfgang Beltracchi

#10. I never decided to become an art forger. I was aware of my talent at an early age, and I used it foolishly. This developed over the years. In my heart, I don't see myself as a criminal.

Wolfgang Beltracchi

#11. You can't paint pictures of love. You can only imagine them. So I suppose I don't need a painting by another artist. I have enough of my own.

Wolfgang Beltracchi

#12. I once went to a demonstration in Aachen against fare increases on public transport. A police officer pulled out a bunch of my hair, and there were a lot of violent beatings. That's when I thought to myself: You'd better leave it alone.

Wolfgang Beltracchi

#13. I wouldn't be ashamed to sell my own art for a lot of money.

Wolfgang Beltracchi

#14. I can paint anything. Leonardo? Of course. But why? You couldn't sell it.

Wolfgang Beltracchi

#15. One is a criminal to some people and an artist to others. I can understand that. In a legal sense, I am a convicted criminal.

Wolfgang Beltracchi