For writing my book about the 100 Best Museums in the Netherlands and Flanders (a long time ago but to my surprise still for sale) I visited no less than 130 museums in 9 months. I don't recommend that to anyone, that was really too much of a good thing.

I drove from Groningen to Ostend, from Maastricht to Texel and visited not only large well-known museums but also many small and lesser-known gems. It was a great adventure and I was able to admire many special collections, legacies, forgotten crafts and historical treasures.

Of course I have been asked regularly which museum I liked best or found most beautiful. But you can't compare fashion with literature or silver with prehistoric objects. Yet there is one museum that has stayed with me the most because it was very surprising: Museum Valse Kunst in Vledder (Drenthe). In this special museum you can see works by Karel Appel, Picasso, Matisse and Giacometti. Unfortunately forgeries but often brilliantly done, that's true.

During the tour it is explained how you can recognize a forgery. This can be in details, in the signature or in other large or small characteristics. When we saw two seemingly identical Rietveld chairs we were invited to sit down and it immediately became clear which one was the real Rietveld chair.

Rodin's beloved Thinker is also present in Vledder. I would almost say of course, because this statue has been endlessly falsified. For the quick viewer, there is nothing wrong, but the closer you look, the more you see. What you cannot see immediately is that the statue is not made of bronze but of plaster. A layer of thin metal (bismuth) over the plaster is then painted with bronze paint. Very cleverly done, but the anatomy of the statue leaves much to be desired. Just look at those much too long toes, for example.

You don't expect to find forgeries in a museum, but there are countless stories about world-famous museums that have purchased fake art for extreme amounts of money.

By the way, there is no fake art in the collection at Art & Pictures, I just wanted to say that 😊

Love, Nicky