Switzerland: Millionaire art forger's 'Salvator Mundi' paintings to be auctioned off as NFTs

У вашего броузера проблема в совместимости с HTML5

Notorious German ‘master art work forger,’ Wolfgang Beltracchi will be auctioning off his new paintings at a NFT auction.

Beltracchi showed his latest artworks including those he wanted to put up for sale, such a variety of takes on the Salvator Mundi, in footage recorded at Meggen studio on Friday.

Beltracchi was sentenced to six years in prison for forging more than 300 works of art using false signatures while his wife Helene was sentenced to four years as an accomplice. He allegedly earned between €20 - 50 million ($23 - 58 million) with his high-quality art forgeries and is considered by local media as the biggest art forger of the post-war period.

“The people in prison really respected me because I was a great artist in their eyes and because of course I did a huge thing where so much money was at stake,” Beltracchi.

On Monday, a so-called Dutch auction will take place on an NFT trading platform, to which Beltracchi will contribute seven of his own paintings.

SOUNDBITES:

SOT, Wolfgang Beltracchi, Painter (German): “I myself am not a factory, like many today. But I actually work almost exclusively alone and I paint an average of 15 pictures a year.”

SOT, Wolfgang Beltracchi, Painter (German): “With me, I do not exhibit a museum. I am one of the most expensive and sought-after artists in the world, but I would never exhibit a museum.”

SOT, Wolfgang Beltracchi, Painter (German): “Nobody knew me - that was a beautiful life. I had had a wonderful life 50 years, 60 years ago. And then all this stress came upon us and of course we had to pay back enormous amounts of money.

SOT, Wolfgang Beltracchi, Painter (German): “The people in prison really respected me because I was a great artist in their eyes and because of course I did a huge thing where so much money was at stake.”

SOT, Wolfgang Beltracchi, Painter (German): “Today artists - well - usually have to make a hundred paintings, maybe three or four hundred is better.”

SOT, Wolfgang Beltracchi, Painter (German): “That would be the Leonardo - if he had painted himself. This is how you could imagine it.”

SOT, Wolfgang Beltracchi, Painter (German): “More than half a year ago, even longer ago - maybe in April, various companies approached me here in Switzerland that sell NFTs, basically.”

SOT, Wolfgang Beltracchi, Painter (German): “Then the people from HashMax approached me - they are very young people under 30 - Chinese and Indians, people from all over the world.”

SOT, Wolfgang Beltracchi, Painter (German): “Then I said ‘What is this, NFT?’ Then I found it very interesting. Then, of course, I also observed the market and saw what was happening there and what was available. Then I also noticed that there is no art, but only some kind of graphic things and computer-digitised stuff, pixels and so on. So I said to myself, this is a unique chance to make art for this market.”

SOT, Wolfgang Beltracchi, Painter (German): “I have painted seven different paintings, you can see them here. Seven different painters, David, Picasso, Van Gogh, Leonardo, myself, Warhol, Lichtenstein, so quite a lot. In this paintings you can see the Salvator Mundi again and again. What changes again and again are the motifs in the paintings in addition, especially in the sphere. There is a lot going on in the sphere.”

SOT, Wolfgang Beltracchi, Painter (German): “This Monday the auction will start on a big platform - do not ask me what it is called. And there, 4,600 works, the so-called tokens, will be auctioned. As a Dutch auction. What does Dutch auction mean? It means you start at the top and the price goes down very quickly in a day or so and then stabilises somewhere at the bottom. And at the bottom price level, that is the price for everyone.”

#SalvatorMundi #NFT

Video ID: 20211018-011

Video on Demand: https://ruptly.tv/videos/20211018-011
Contact: [email protected]

Twitter: http://twitter.com/Ruptly
Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/Ruptly