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Related: Editorials & Other Articles, Issue Forums, Alliance Forums, Region ForumsDonald Trump Bragged About the Renoir on His Private Jet. Experts Say Its a Fake.
Watching Donald Trump being interviewed on 60 Minutes shortly after Election Day 2016, eagle-eyed art lovers might have noticed what looked like a painting by French Impressionist painter Pierre-Auguste Renoir hanging on a wall behind the president-elect. The especially astute might have noticed that it looked suspiciously familiar.
New York Times business reporter Timothy OBrien had seen the painting before, on Trumps personal jet, back when the president was still a private citizen. When Trump told OBrien that it was the genuine article, OBrien declared, Donald, its not. I grew up in Chicago, that Renoir is called Two Sisters (on the Terrace), and its hanging on a wall at the Art Institute of Chicago. Thats not an original. OBrien, who recalled the meeting in an interview with Vanity Fairs Hive podcast, also remembers that the day after that exchange. He says Trump pointed out the painting again, as though the conversation had never happened. (A representative for the Art Institue of Chicago confirmed that Two Sisters is part of the museums collection but declined to comment further.)
Two art historians were willing to comment on the painting. While neither spoke to President Trumps assertions, their observations leave little doubt about the paintings authenticity.
Richard Brettell is chair of aesthetic studies at the University of Texas in Dallas, a Yale University Ph.D., director of the Dallas Museum of Art, and author of several books on Impressionism. His verdict? Its a fake. He writes in an email:
Read more:
https://news.artnet.com/art-world/donald-trump-fake-renoir-1117814
joeybee12
(56,177 posts)TheBlackAdder
(28,211 posts)joeybee12
(56,177 posts)I'd forgotten about those
AJT
(5,240 posts)Sanity Claws
(21,852 posts)Wealthy people don't spend big money on art unless the piece has the provenance. If he bought it without a provenance, he knew that it was likely a fake and he did not pay what a real Renoir would be worth.
mythology
(9,527 posts)Given Trump is an idiot and unaware of that fact, he may well have gotten swindled.
Botany
(70,582 posts)zipplewrath
(16,646 posts)Anyone surprised? This is the same guy that displayed fake Time covers in his clubs.
dalton99a
(81,578 posts)left-of-center2012
(34,195 posts)As real as Trump's Time magazine cover.
madaboutharry
(40,220 posts)"In 1925, the painting was sold to Annie S. Coburn from Chicago for $100,000. After her death in 1932 the painting was bequeathed to the Art Institute of Chicago, where it has remained since 1933.[1]"
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Two_Sisters_(On_the_Terrace)
Stallion
(6,476 posts)malaise
(269,157 posts)is fake. He's a fucking lunatic.
I think his dad. for whatever reason, must have taken little donnie by the ankles and dropped him head first onto a concrete floor, over and over he drops him.
This cretin isn't right
malaise
(269,157 posts)mildly
Grammy23
(5,813 posts)He knows that chances are the people who see these things will not know they are fake and most will be too polite to say anything. That is why he has gotten away all these years with the grandiose images of his lifestyle. Betcha you could go through his penthouse and see one fake item after another. Starting with that gold plated toilet he supposedly has. Krylon sells gold spray paint at Wal-Mart for $3.72 a can that gives a shiny impression of real gold. Try scratching your finger on tRumps throne and see what flakes off.
P.S. It is also a window into his mind of what he thinks class really is. He wouldnt Know true class if it came up and bit him on the ass.
Tommy_Carcetti
(43,198 posts)smirkymonkey
(63,221 posts)The thing is, Trump is too stupid and uncultured to know anything about art or have any appreciation for it. The only thing he cares about is the price tag. Any art expert could sell him a fake and take advantage of his ignorance. He never goes to museums so he would have no way of knowing that this painting has been hanging in The Art Institute of Chicago since 1933.
bathroommonkey76
(3,827 posts)Kleveland
(1,257 posts)cwydro
(51,308 posts)I just cant believe this disgrace is our president.
I cant believe responsible people in our party cannot do something.
Bayard
(22,149 posts)librechik
(30,676 posts)of Jeff Sessions AND Mitch McConnell combined. Win!"
mopinko
(70,216 posts)paintings in the whole damn art institute collection. it is recognizable from a mile away.
the gift shop sells it as a poster, and has for decades. there must be millions of them out there.
the man is out of his freakin mind.
TexasBushwhacker
(20,214 posts)If he knows it's fake and tries to pass it off as real, he's a liar. But if he got conned that it was real and dropped a few million on it, he's a sucker.
The_Casual_Observer
(27,742 posts)It was the deal of a lifetime.
CatMor
(6,212 posts)Orrex
(63,224 posts)Just ask him.
LisaM
(27,830 posts)He just doesn't seem like the type to appreciate art, or understand why it's valuable.
Irish_Dem
(47,399 posts)greatauntoftriplets
(175,750 posts)And I've never been on a drumpf plane. It's definitely in the Art Institute.
Maeve
(42,288 posts)lame54
(35,321 posts)The Con got Conned
Hope he paid millions
Gothmog
(145,558 posts)Remember the fake Time magazine covers https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/a-time-magazine-with-trump-on-the-cover-hangs-in-his-golf-clubs-its-fake/2017/06/27/0adf96de-5850-11e7-ba90-f5875b7d1876_story.html?utm_term=.c707318553a3
The real Time cover, left, and the fake Donald Trump cover. (Left: Time. Right: Angel Valentin for The Washington Post)
Jim Lane
(11,175 posts)"He says Trump pointed out the painting again, as though the conversation had never happened."
It's interesting to ask whether Trump originally thought the painting was real (he's stupid) or knew it was fake (he lied). But that's secondary. Be he a dimwit or a liar, even a minimally rational dimwit or liar would not repeat the same statement to the same person the next day "as though the conversation had never happened."
That's more frightening than concluding that he got conned on an art purchase or that he thought he could put one over on an unknowledgeable visitor. It tells me that he's just so wrapped up in his egotism that his self-laudatory conclusions are absolutely impervious to any inputs from the real world.
I'll bet he sincerely believes that he's done a great job in Puerto Rico.