Wolfgang Beltracchi famous quotes

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

#Art #Years #Age

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

#Artist #Body #Fit

Every philharmonic orchestra merely interprets the composer. My goal was to create new music by that composer. In doing so, I wanted to find the painter's creative center and become familiar with it, so that I could see through his eyes how his paintings came about and, of course, see the new picture I was painting through his eyes - before I even painted it.
-- Wolfgang Beltracchi

#Eye #Goal #Creative

I can paint anything. Leonardo? Of course. But why? You couldn't sell it.
-- Wolfgang Beltracchi

#Paint #Leonardo #I Can

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

#Artist #People #Criminals

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

#Art #Creative #Doe

Fame never interested me. I could have exhibited more of my own works in the 1970s, but I didn't want to. It's sort of like being a child. When you're finished with school, you have only one thing on your mind: to get out and experience life. Did I want to spend all my time working on a painting? No, I wanted to have fun, travel, meet women and live life.
-- Wolfgang Beltracchi

#Children #Fun #Live Life

Most forgers are caught because they tell the wrong person about what they do.
-- Wolfgang Beltracchi

#Wrong Person #Caught #Persons

The interesting thing is that in everyday life, I fail to see the most ordinary things. I often stumble and sometimes I even fall over. But when I draw or look at a painting, I go into a sort of overdrive and just see things differently than other people.
-- Wolfgang Beltracchi

#Fall #People #Interesting

In a legal sense, I am a convicted criminal.
-- Wolfgang Beltracchi

#Criminals

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

#Art #Children #Thinking

I wouldn't be ashamed to sell my own art for a lot of money.
-- Wolfgang Beltracchi

#Art #Ashamed #My Own

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

#Morning #Hair #Photo Of Me

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

#Love Picture #Love You #Artist

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

#Missing #Had Enough #Facts

No one ever ordered anything from me. I painted because I wanted to.
-- Wolfgang Beltracchi

#Wanted

Did I want to spend all my time working on a painting? No, I wanted to have fun, travel, meet women and live life.
-- Wolfgang Beltracchi

#Fun #Live Life #Want

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

#Years #Amsterdam #Intense

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

#Needed #Dealer #Felt

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

#Hair #Police #Violent