Page 42 - index

2023 ‫מועד סתיו‬ - 41 - ‫ פרק ראשון‬- ‫אנגלית‬

Text II (Questions 18-22)

(1) When Vincent van Gogh died at the age of 37 in 1890, his entire working life as an
artist had spanned only ten years. In that time, he had managed to produce 879 paintings
and 1,245 drawings.

It has now been suggested that several dozen "van Goghs" are actually fakes, created
(5) by some of his contemporaries. This suggestion has enormous financial, as well as

scholarly, implications: paintings by van Gogh command higher prices than those by
almost any other artist.

A fake is an imitation of an artist's work that is presented as genuine. Some of the
paintings now masquerading as van Goghs may have been innocent imitations made by

(10) other artists who admired his style. Some paintings may look like van Goghs because
van Gogh himself adopted an Impressionist style that was very popular at the time.
Such paintings became fakes only when the signature "Vincent" was later added to
them. There are also out-and-out fakes, painted for the purpose of deception.

How can we judge the authenticity of a painting? The time-honored method of
(15) recognizing fakes is to use one's eyes. The sweep of an artist's hand is highly

individual. Brushstrokes are like handwriting and, just as forged documents can be
recognized by a handwriting expert, forged paintings can be recognized by painting
connoisseurs. At least this is the theory.

In fact, van Gogh was a highly experimental artist who was constantly trying out
(20) different styles. He also suffered from severe mental illness, which often affected the

way he painted. Furthermore, he himself made many copies and versions of his own
work.

Even those who consider themselves van Gogh experts argue vigorously about
which paintings are fakes. One of the most famous of the disputed van Goghs is a
(25) painting called Sunflowers, sold to a Japanese company in 1987 for 25 million pounds

– then a world record for any work of art. This painting, like other suspect van Goghs,
may have been created by van Gogh's friend Emile Schuffenecker or by Dr. Paul Gachet,
the doctor who treated van Gogh's mental illness for the last two years of his life.

Questions

18. The main purpose of the text is to -

(1) explain how to judge the authenticity of a painting
(2) explain why van Gogh's work was imitated by so many artists
(3) discuss the claim that there are many fake van Goghs
(4) discuss a great artist who suffered from severe mental illness

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