Art Dealer Stan Lauryssens Claims 75% of Paintings Made by Dali are Fake in New Book
By Ryan • Jun 11th, 2008 • Category: News for Creatives (archives)
BARCELONA.- Stan Lauryssens presented his book Dali & I in Barcelona. In it he claims that 75% of the works made by the Catalonian artist are fakes. He also states that Dali had assistants paint his works of art. The book will be released in the United States on July 8.
Art dealer Stan Lauryssens made millions in modern art, but he sold only one name: Salvador Dali. The surrealist painter’s work was a hot commodity for the newly rich, investors, and businessmen looking to launder their black market cash. Stan didn’t mind looking the other way; he just hoped the buyers would look the other way as well. The artworks he sold came from some very shady sources. And he soon discovered that the shadiest source of all was Dali himself. The more successful Stan became, the closer he got to Dali’s inner circle, until he found himself living next door to the aging artist. There, while Stan hid from Interpol’s detectives, he learned more about Dali’s secret history, the studio of artists who produced his work, and the money-making machine that kept Dali’s extravagant lifestyle afloat long after his creativity became to flounder.
Dali & I offers a behind-the-scenes view of the commerce and conspiracy that can go hand-in-hand in the art world, written by a man who has been to the top only to discover it was no different than the bottom.
Stan Laurissens was an art dealer specializing in works by Salvador Dali for over a decade. After spending time in prison for the sale of bogus Dali’s, he turned to writing crime fiction. He won Belgium’s Hercule Poirot Award in 2002 for best crime fiction of the year. He divides his time between Antwerp and London.
Stan Lauryssens was born 1946 in Antwerp, Belgium. Lived for an extended period of time in Barcelona (1985-1992) and London (1992-1998). He now divides his time between Antwerp and London. As a journalist in the 70s and 80s, he travelled the world and interviewed Jack Higgins, Harold Robbins, Catherine Cookson, Konsalik, Thor Heyerdahl, Madame Charles de Gaulle and Andy Warhol, among many others, and had prolonged meetings with Hitler’s henchmen who survived the war: Karl Dönitz, Sir Oswald Mosley, Leni Riefenstahl, Adolf Eichmann’s family, Otto Günsche who acted as the ultimate Nazi undertaker and burned Hitler’s corpse. The author was Salvador Dalí’s only neighbour in the village of Cadaqués, Spain and wrote Dalí and I about his experiences with the surrealist painter. Room 9 Entertainment in Hollywood has bought film rights. His non-fiction books were serialised in The Mail on Sunday and are published in English, French, Italian and Polish and have gained cult status in Japan.
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