GIACOMETTI ART
About Robert Driessen
Robert Driessen, now 60, was born in Arnhem in the Netherlands. At an early age he found he had a natural talent for art and decided to make it his career.
Driessen began his art career selling tourist art pieces in Holland and then moved on to painting “in the style of” other artists. Soon a number of dealers were buying his paintings. One of them was Michel van Rijn, who would eventually acquire the reputation of being the most successful art smuggler in the world.
Driessen has spent 36 years painting and sculpting outright forgeries. He soon became one of the five most successful art forgers in history. His copies, and interpretations of, paintings and sculptures by the most famous artists in history and of the world’s greatest modern day sculptor, Alberto Giacometti, fooled museums, collectors, galleries and every major auction house in the world.
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Recently the authorities discovered a large “walking man” signed Giacometti in the famous Mapplethorpe collection which was actually created by Driessen.
The collection paid many millions of dollars for it.
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It is estimated that there are still over 1,000 Driessen forgeries in circulation in major galleries and private collections, the majority of which have not been discovered.
