Fake It and You'll Make It: Elmyr de Hor...

Marie Suize made her way from France to the foothills of California for the Gold Rush. One of just a few women up there mining for gold, she managed to make a fortune and gain the respect of her fellow prospectors. In an effort to be practical and comfortable, she started wearing ... Show More

Raised in difficult cirumstances, it was no surprise that Brenden Abbott turned to a life of crime. But once he got going, he was an endless source of surprises for the Australian police who struggled to capture and recapture him, as he broke out of multiple prisons and enjoyed l ... Show More

A genius goes to work in the Danish Royal Library. Sounds about right. That genius starts stealing books. That's not right. The genius stops stealing books. That's good! His family starts selling off the stolen books. Okay, we're back to not good again. This Scandinavian caper to ... Show More

A wannabe art dealer sells fake works by American masters of Abstract Expressionism in an $80 million scam, fooling rich collectors and pocketing millions. (Original air date: 8/20/2018) 

<p>This week on Hidden Brain, we explore real and fake, from fine art to fine wine. Shankar speaks with Noah Charney, author of <em>The Art of Forgery, </em>about why art forgers are compelled to spend their lives copying the great masters, and why so many of them want to get cau ... Show More

In 1998, an art gallery gets a mysterious phone call. The caller claims they have been fooled by a master forger and that many of their prized paintings are fakes. Or are they? This is the story of the life and lies of the notorious Eric Hebborn. What did he do, and what does tha ... Show More

The art of Ken Perenyi is remarkable, but it's extremely difficult to detect which pieces are his. As a teenager, Ken entered New York City's art scene, admiring famous pieces alongside artists and celebrities alike. Feeling inspired to learn the craft, he taught himself how to p ... Show More

Wolfgang Beltracchi is possibly the most artful forgers ever to have gotten into the game. While most would create a forgery by meticulously copying every line, shape and color in a known masterpiece, Beltracchi studied the artist then made his own original compositions imagining ... Show More

Frank Stockton uses clever humor to poke fun at manufactured art in this humurous piece about a man who, while seeking to help out his local fire department using a money-making scheme, purchases a mass-produced piece of art with the hopes of raffling it off for many times its va ... Show More

A man convinces people that he is a movie producer and money management professional while collecting millions to promote his own image. (Original air date: 7/10/2017) 

"The Pope" was a revered Dutch art expert - and yet he fell for a not very convincing forgery of a "lost" Vermeer masterpiece. The forger had duped other art connoisseurs too - including the high ranking Nazi Hermann Göring. But perhaps Han van Meegeren's biggest con was to convi ... Show More