AI creates picture-perfect Van Gogh replicas

Technology imitates every brush stroke to give buyers a taste of artist’s work for a fraction of the price

MASTERPIECES by Vincent van Gogh have been replicated using new technology and are on sale as £17,500 souvenirs at a London exhibition.

The Dutch post-impressionist was little-known before his suicide, but his work became among the most revered and valuable in the world, with prices reaching £116million at auction.

Sophisticated 3D copies of paintings including Boulevard de Clichy and Sunflowers have been made using state-of the-art scanning and printing techniques. Every brush stroke is recreated in the reproductions, which also have art dealer’s seals and period frames to add greater realism.

These clones are now available for £17,500, and are hanging alongside £20 T-shirts in the gift shop of an exhibition on London’s South Bank. The Van Gogh Museum in Amsterdam is overseeing the show, and the replica prints, called “Relievos”, have already proved a hit with buyers after first going on sale in Hong Kong.

Officials at the Van Gogh Museum believe their technology is leading the way in the burgeoning industry of art reproduction, which is being accelerated by 3D printing and AI that mimics the styles of masters from Vermeer to Seurat.

The museum’s bosses have pledged that a limited number of replicated works will be made, to ensure their value for buyers, and all profits will be reinvested into the museum.

However, there is no limit on making what they deem to be educational works. “It took off,” said Adriaan Donszelmann, managing director of the museum. “It is a limited group of people who can afford to buy it. People buy them to put in their house or on their boat. It took off commercially, and it took off educationally.”

The museum hopes visually impaired people can enjoy the textured paintings, which could never be touched if they were the real thing.

The copying process was first tested a decade ago using techniques developed by Fujifilm, and the vast source material of the Van Gogh Museum. A mould is created by scanning a photograph, before ink is applied to the textured surface.

All canvasses are the same size as the original works. They were launched commercially in 2013, with a maximum of 260 copies allowed for each of nine selected prints, including Sunflowers, Wheatfield Under Thunderclouds and Lilies. About half of the 2,340 copies have been sold to date.

The reproductions will be available at the Meet Vincent van Gogh Experience, which opens today and focuses on personal aspects of the artist’s life.

Mr Donszelmann is unsure how the religiously passionate and artistically principled painter would take his mass reproductions. He said: “His focus was becoming known as an artist. I don’t know whether he was thinking about whether or not his work could be reproduced. But he wanted to get his message across. He thought about how to reach the people.”

Scientists at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology have been perfecting the Ai-assisted printing technique.

The developers argued it will allow art to be seen by many more people outside cultural centres such as Amsterdam or London.