Wassily Kandinsky, Composition VII, 1913; The Tretyakov Gallery, Moscow. I can't tell if the altered version below is a photo edit or a newly painted reproduction, but it's clearly very pink, and has obscured the dynamism, color, contrast and detail that are so compelling in the original Kandinsky. The photograph of Composition 7 on display comes from a Princeton University blog post written by a student who visited the Tretyakov in 2019. A separate post looks at Kandinsky, Composition X. Altered version of a painting by Wassily Kandinsky.
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© David Hockney, My Parents, 1977; Tate, London. Whoever painted the reproduction below evidently decided to use tones tending more to green than to Hockney's signature blue. It could be a digitally manipulated photo, but that wouldn't explain why the dress has maintained its original color while everything else has been given a hefty dose of yellow. A fun note from the Tate: Hockney completed this work after two failed attempts at painting his parents, Kenneth and Laura Hockney. They were frustrated when Hockney gave up on previous versions, having spent hours posing for him. However, speaking about their reaction to My Parents, Hockney's sister Margaret said, "Mum and Dad were very proud of it, and felt all the sittings had been worthwhile." Altered version of a painting by David Hockney. Copywriting & Consultations
Pablo Picasso, La Madrilèna (Portrait of a Young Woman), c.1901; Kröller-Müller Museum. Someone took a lot of liberties with the coloring in the reproduction below, adding an orange tinge to the entire painting. It's possible that the changes could have been achieved with a photo editing app, but it might be a recently painted reproduction. The image above is from the museum where the painting is located. As a side note, a 2017-18 exhibit called Picasso/Lautrec at the Thyssen-Bornemisza Museo Nacional revealed much about Lautrec's influence on Picasso during this period (and even later in his career), as well as the two artists' different approaches to their shared cultural and social environment in Paris in the early 1900s. Altered version of a painting by Picasso. THE ART DETECTIVEBloopers, Fakes & Mistakes
Louise Abbema, Game of Croquet, 1872; Private Collection. The yellowish reproduction below is seen fairly often online, but all the croquet sites and higher-end art dealers are unanimous in selecting the more naturalistic version. In addition, the trail of the real-life painting leads back to a croquet gallery that has used the natural-looking image in several online articles. Since I wasn't able to locate a first-hand image attributed to its current location (unknown), this information can't be fully confirmed. However, I'm confident, based on all other evidence — including comparisons with Abbéma's other work — that the version above is more accurate and a better choice for this particular painting. Altered version of a painting by Louise Abbéma. Corrections or suggestions?
Vanessa Bell, Interior With a Table, 1921; © Tate, London. Some imaginative color changes in the recent reproduction below, which is circulating without a clear indication that it's been altered. A pleasant background note from the Tate, where the work is located: This picture was painted at La Maison Blanche, a villa just outside St. Topez which [Bell and Duncan Grant] rented from Bell's friend Rose Vildrac. They stayed there for five months [...] with Bell's children Quentin, Julian and Angelica. Bell wrote, 'It's delicious to be in the South — one forgets how nice it is — all the colors and the light and space and everything looking so baked through.' Altered version of a painting by Vanessa Bell. Pierre-Auguste Renoir, Irène Cahen d'Anvers (Little Irene), 1880; Emil Bührle Collection, Zurich. What a beauty! Such a magnificent painting, and very well known. Yet various reproductions and extreme digital alterations — like the one below — are still making the rounds on social media, and have been widely accepted as fair copies of the original. Altered version of a painting by Auguste Renoir. Copywriting & Consulting
Georgia O'Keeffe, White Rose With Larkspur No. 2, 1927; Museum of Fine Arts, Boston. There seem to be multiple modern reproductions of this painting, some more faithful to the original than others. The one shown below is an extreme reinterpretation. I'm surprised more people aren't suspicious — the title refers to a white rose, and the rose in this reproduction is yellow, or at best very dingy. The whole picture, in fact, is freely colored with little attention to the authentic work. There are also several versions of a different, presumably earlier composition titled White Rose With Larkspur No. 1, but to date I haven't been able to locate an original source for this alleged precursor. (Additional info welcome.) Altered version of a painting by Georgia O'Keeffe. THE ART DETECTIVEBloopers, Fakes & Mistakes
Henri Matisse, "The Terrace, Saint-Tropez," 1904; © Succession H. Matisse / Artists Rights Society (ARS), New York; Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum. The reproduction below, possibly a digital variation, is a good example of altered art images that have been tinted a particular color, without any obvious purpose. If an otherwise natural scene looks as though you're seeing it through colored glasses, it's probably an altered copy. In addition to misrepresenting the artist's original colors, the process also removes a lot of the detail, tends to flatten the image, and blurs the the contrast between elements. Altered version of a painting by Henri Matisse. Corrections or suggestions?
Salvador Dali, Character Masquerading in Pinning Up a Butterfly," 1965; © Fundació Gala-Salvador Dalí, Figueres, Spain. This isn't the sort of painting that most people usually associate with Dali, but it's been popular enough that the reproduction seen below has appeared online in various locations. The modern version is suspiciously yellow, erasing the naturalistic flesh tones seen in the original, and also obscuring a lot of the brushwork. It might be a digitally altered image, with heightened contrast and yellow-green tones added. Note that the Fundació adds "Portrait of Fortuny" to its title, and appears to have plenty of documentation to back up the information that appears there. However, since I wasn't able to confirm this aspect of the painting, I've omitted this mention in the title above. Altered version of a painting by Salvador Dalí. Copywriting & Consulting
Claude Monet, "Impression, Sunrise," 1872; Musée Marmottan, Paris. The blue-tinted version below is very popular, despite the fact that it varies significantly from the original. Unfortunately, a commercial reproduction often gets more exposure than the real thing, due to mass advertising in the online marketplace, and the common practice of making copies from other reproductions, rather than from firsthand sources. Sometimes modern versions become so widely known that they become the standard rather than being recognized as newly created updates. It almost amounts to fake facts at that point, and unfortunately it's very hard to shake people's belief in the manipulated copies they've come to see as authentic. Altered version of a painting by Claude Monet. Corrections or suggestions?
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