Painting Fraud

Among the many videos in Unit one of Art Appreciation, I had the pleasure of watching a video of a master forger. While watching the video I was aware of the fact that the artist himself was recreating the art as homage to the artists. Based on his pay he assumed that the art was simply sold as a reproduction. However, it is the dealers who sold the art as the real thing and knew of it that actually are to pay consequence in this matter. Perhaps the other shocking part is how much people were taken aback by this. In my opinion I would only spend $4 million on a piece of paintings that I deemed worthy of the price. Yet these collectors do not care whether or not the painting was beautiful enough for the price, they only care about rather or not it is the original created by a certain artist. I feel that these people spent their money on a piece of art they looked at and deemed worthy of the price in the same sense that one spends $200 on a suit that they see at a store and deem worthy of that price. While it is wrong that these criminals created this act of fraudulence, it is just as wrong that since these artists have died their works have become immortal and priceless. Yet it is no longer about the art it is now only about the price tag, and how much it is worth, or how famous the art is. A Mona Lisa should be regarded with the same respect as a similar modern painting if it withholds the same beautiful technique.