A tale of talent wasted as a counterfeiter

The Last Vermeer (2019) is one of the rare movies that I had to watch twice to judge it fairly, before its removal from Netflix last week. When watching it for the first time, I was nodding off and had to watch the movie in parts to finish it. The second time, I decided to watch it all at one go (and managed to stay wide awake!).

The movie tells the story of Han Van Meegeren (played by Guy Pearce) the most famous forger in the 20th century who made millions of dollars by selling fake Vermeer paintings to many, including Nazis. He’s caught by the Dutch Resistance to investigate whether he’d conspired with the Nazis knowingly. The investigating officer is a former Dutch Resistance fighter Joseph Piller (Danish actor Claes Bang) who believes in Van Meegeren’s innocence and works hard to prove it.

But is Van Meegeren as guiltless as he claims or is Piller falling for his charms like us viewers? The movie is a directorial debut of American director Dan Friedkin and is based on The Man Who Made Vermeers (2008) written by American art historian Jonathan Lopez . The director uses windows and light in almost all scenes. For example, a window that separates militants like Piller from civilian life outside his car and another one from which Van Meegeren watches the military parade from above, which gave the movie a distinctive artistic touch.

My favorite was a jail cell scene, where Van Meegeren and his lawyers are arguing with a wall behind them (indicating a dead end) and bright light shining from an invisible roof window above (assuring hope). The cast which included an Australian (Guy Pearce) and a medley of British and European actors perfected their roles.

Everything in the movie makes it an outstanding historical drama from set design to music, yet it’s very slow paced with flashbacks from Van Meegeren’s past life which I found confusing at times. However, what’s more interesting than the movie itself is its main character Han Van Meegeren (1899-1947). He was a Dutch artist who showed real artistic talent at a young age, despite his father’s disapproval. While in high school, he trained with an art teacher who taught him the techniques of his compatriot classic painter Johannes Vermeer (1632-1675).

Van Meegeren continued taking drawing and painting lessons while studying architecture in Delft university but he never graduated. Instead, he moved to the Hague, got a diploma in art, and painted for extra income before traveling around Europe. His work was criticized by art experts for not being original but a copy of the Old Masters.

In 1932, he started developing his forgery skills by creating colors using raw materials such as Lapis Lazuli and making paint brushes from badger-hair like what Vermeer painted with. Moreover, he bought 17th century canvas to paint on and devised methods to create centuries-old cracks on his completed fake Vermeer paintings. These paintings were authenticated by art experts around the world and sold to international museums and private collectors for millions, which helped Van Meegeren live lavishly and own more than 50 houses in the Netherlands.

However, in 1947 he had to confess his forgeries while on trial for selling a painting to Nazi leader Göring. He was given a one-year sentence and became a national hero. Sadly, he died from a heart attack right after the trial, aged 58. Van Meegeren was a prolific artist which made the number of his forgeries still unknown. His best quote was “My triumph as a counterfeiter was my defeat as a creative artist.”