The world’s largest fake painting village and the painter’s journey to find himself after 20 years of copying Van Gogh paintings

Tram Ho

In 1989, Hong Kong (China) businessman Hoang Giang came here with 20 painters. Currently, the village has produced more than 10,000 painters, a number that is hard to imagine. So is painting so easy?

The world’s largest simulated oil painting village

Làng tranh giả lớn nhất thế giới và hành trình tìm thấy chính mình của thợ vẽ sau 20 năm chép tranh Van Gogh - Ảnh 1.

A corner in Dafen village

Every year, Dafen village produces millions of paintings that are sold to souvenir shops and major supermarkets around the world.

According to statistics, 70% of Western oil paintings come from China, and 80% of them come from Dafen village.

In 2015, the sales of paintings of Dai Phan village exceeded 65 million USD (more than 1.5 trillion VND), meeting the needs of many groups “who love antique paintings but have a limited economy” and ordinary people.

But in reality, although oil paintings sell well, Daifen village has a relatively “mediocre” reputation in the art world.

Buyers do not care how skilled the painters of Dai Phan village are, but only care if the paintings are like the original and cheap?

For the workers in Dai Phan village, painting is just a job, like selling vegetables or carrying bricks. They are not professionally trained and can copy paintings right after only 1-2 months of simple training.

By mastering this survival skill, you can support yourself and even your family.

Trieu Tieu Dung from Thieu Duong (Hunan) is one of the best painters in Daifen village.

Làng tranh giả lớn nhất thế giới và hành trình tìm thấy chính mình của thợ vẽ sau 20 năm chép tranh Van Gogh - Ảnh 2.

Trieu Tieu Dung

More than 20 years ago, he moved from his hometown to Shenzhen, worked as a paint and dye worker in a plastic factory, earning 600 yuan a month (more than 2 million dong), working like a machine, nothing more.

Later, a colleague said that he could earn more than 3,000 yuan a month by copying oil paintings in Dafen village.

In the 1990s, the house price in Shenzhen was only 2,000 yuan (about 6.7 million dong) per square meter. Trieu Tieu Dung immediately went to Dai Phan village to learn a trade and continue to copy paintings until now.

A life of people living by copying pictures

1. Become a part of Dafen Village

Làng tranh giả lớn nhất thế giới và hành trình tìm thấy chính mình của thợ vẽ sau 20 năm chép tranh Van Gogh - Ảnh 3.

Trieu Tieu Dung has no background in painting, nor any hobbies: “I just want to make money”.

This place is really like a factory, replicas of Van Gogh and Monet are produced by a strict chain process.

A studio can be divided into 3 process lines, one with 7 people, one person drawing a part.

One person paints the sky and then transfers it to the other person to draw more trees and flowers, next comes people… A blank canvas through the hands of 7 people becomes a complete picture.

To be able to master this work, Trieu Tieu Dung paints more than 10 hours a day, from noon today to early next morning. Not long after, Trieu Tieu Dung officially entered the painting process in the village.

However, because he was not satisfied with copying only a part of the painting, he abandoned his apprenticeship after half a year and opened his own shop to take orders.

Van Gogh, Claude Monet, Paul Gauguin, Da Vinci… Paintings of any famous artist Trieu Tieu Dung can also draw. But then reality gave him a lifelong slap, he did not sell a single painting for a whole year.

Friends advised him: “Don’t paint so many lines. You should only focus on one artist. Van Gogh’s paintings are very popular, there are certainly a lot of orders.”

Làng tranh giả lớn nhất thế giới và hành trình tìm thấy chính mình của thợ vẽ sau 20 năm chép tranh Van Gogh - Ảnh 4.

Trieu Tieu Dung paints Van Gogh’s self-portrait page

Trieu Tieu Dung understood and began to work hard day and night to copy Van Gogh paintings. He vowed to become the “first Van Gogh” in Dafen village and he succeeded.

During that time, Trieu Tieu Dung copied and copied hundreds of Van Gogh’s paintings.

In the end, he was able to paint Van Gogh’s “Sunflowers” in 28 minutes and “Self-Portrait” in just 22 minutes.

“Many people say we’re just ordinary copyists. It’s okay to make money, whatever.”

A few months later, Trieu Tieu Dung finally sold his first painting with the offer of buy 1 get 1 free.

The market price at that time was about 150 yuan / painting (more than 500,000 VND). When the customer asked for the price, Trieu Tieu Dung gritted his teeth and couldn’t bear to say: “Buy 2 pictures, I will take 130 yuan”.

So the two sides reached an agreement. With good quality and cheap price, more and more customers choose to buy Van Gogh paintings by Trieu Tieu Dung.

Since 2002, every month he receives 600-700 orders to create simulation paintings.

An agent based in Amsterdam (Netherlands) recognized Trieu Tieu Dung’s talent and wanted to have a long-term cooperation with him.

Every time a customer pays 50% of the deposit, Trieu Tieu Dung takes the money to pay for his daily life, pays school fees for his children, and then buys paints.

2. Lost after 20 years “is Van Gogh”

Làng tranh giả lớn nhất thế giới và hành trình tìm thấy chính mình của thợ vẽ sau 20 năm chép tranh Van Gogh - Ảnh 5.

A studio in the village of Dafen

Taking orders, copying pictures, eating, sleeping, transporting, taking orders again… The life of Trieu Tieu Dung’s family basically revolves around in the studio of Dai Fen village.

Business is getting better and better, but after 10 years of hard work alone, Trieu Tieu Dung can’t draw anymore. So, he started teaching the profession, accepting students. First, he taught his wife, then his brother and sister-in-law.

Over 10 years, Trieu Tieu Dung, his family and students have copied more than 100,000 copies of Van Gogh.

After many years of happy cooperation, the painting agent has repeatedly invited Trieu Tieu Dung to the Netherlands, just need to pay for the plane ticket, the rest they will take care of. Trieu Tieu Dung just hummed, he never left.

The Netherlands is a country with an expensive standard of living, and the cost of flying is not cheap. The family has to eat, the children have to go to school, he can’t go.

His family was poor, he dropped out of secondary school and went to work. Now, he relies on painting to support his large family.

When he could no longer draw, he gave the work to the painters and became a manager. In fact, he should be satisfied with the present.

However, he feels lost and doesn’t know what it means to copy paintings like this, thinking that he can draw a perspective decades later.

Làng tranh giả lớn nhất thế giới và hành trình tìm thấy chính mình của thợ vẽ sau 20 năm chép tranh Van Gogh - Ảnh 6.

That night, Trieu Tieu Dung dreamed of Van Gogh. The artist stepped out of the painting and said to him:

“Tieu Dung, you have imitated me for nearly 20 years, now you draw my works, how do you feel?”.

Trieu Tieu Dung immediately replied: “I understand you already!”.

The more he talked, the more excited Trieu Tieu Dung became, involuntarily reaching out to touch Van Gogh, but no matter how hard he tried, he couldn’t catch that figure. “It turned out to be just a dream.”

Trieu Tieu Dung had not slept all night, tears soaked the pillow. He began to face the deep thought in his heart: He always wanted to see with his own eyes the real works of Van Gogh that he had copied for 20 years.

3. The journey to find the real Van Gogh

Normally, Trieu Tieu Dung looks at Van Gogh’s works through books and computers, can see clearly but has no soul.

“I wanted to learn something from his original work to see if I could find my way.”

Làng tranh giả lớn nhất thế giới và hành trình tìm thấy chính mình của thợ vẽ sau 20 năm chép tranh Van Gogh - Ảnh 7.

After the Lunar New Year, some painters in Daifen village gathered together. On the wine table, Trieu Tieu Long mustered up courage: “My biggest wish in life is to go to the Van Gogh Museum to see the real work! 20 years of painting Van Gogh must also be seen once, right, right? !”.

The other workers responded in unison.

Trieu Tieu Dung’s wife interrupted: “Last cup, hope everyone has a prosperous new year!”

His wife firmly disagreed with his decision to go abroad, mainly because it was too expensive. Children are also not supportive.

Trieu Tieu Dung was frustrated, but couldn’t leave his family alone.

Without going to the Van Gogh Museum, Trieu Tieu Dung can only read Van Gogh’s books. One day, he found a film by Van Gogh, so happy that he called all his friends to see it with him.

Lying in bed at night, he was still excited to do thought work for his wife.

“If we continue to paint Van Gogh, we have to see them once in real life, maybe make more money after that.” His wife relented and nodded in agreement.

After more than 10 hours of long-haul flight, Trieu Tieu Dung was extremely excited, accompanied by a team of documentary filmmakers themed “China’ Van Gogh” (rough translation: Chinese Van Gogh) documenting the journey of people For the first time, when making imitation paintings of Dai Phan village, he first admired the original work of the great artist.

The plane landed smoothly at Amsterdam airport, he still couldn’t believe he had done this.

Làng tranh giả lớn nhất thế giới và hành trình tìm thấy chính mình của thợ vẽ sau 20 năm chép tranh Van Gogh - Ảnh 8.

Trieu Tieu Dung set foot in Van Gogh’s hometown

Fields, streets, buildings… everything in Van Gogh’s hometown is new. He uses a not-so-modern phone to capture everything he sees.

But the purpose of this trip was to meet Van Gogh and greet old customers.

Arriving in front of the Van Gogh Museum, he found an art dealer who had cooperated for many years but had not seen each other for a long time, and the two hugged each other affectionately.

But after walking around his partner’s store, he began to feel extremely frustrated.

The oil paintings he carefully copied were hung on the wall by the owner, stacked on top of each other like selling goods at a flea market for everyone to choose.

“I’ve worked with him for a long time. I think his shop is upscale like a showroom. Who knows, it’s just a place to sell souvenirs.”

Trieu Tieu Dung discovered his paintings were being sold for 500 euros (about 12 million VND). But buyers only pay less than 450 yuan (more than 1.5 million, less than 1/10 of the price of paintings sold in the Netherlands.

Tieu Dung paced back and forth outside the store, smoking one cigarette after another, silently not saying a word. Trieu Tieu Dung is helpless with this naked truth.

But the most important purpose of this trip is to see paintings. He regained his senses, passed through the heavy iron gate, and finally entered the museum.

When the door opened, what caught Trieu Tieu Dung’s eyes was the painting “Sunflower”.

Làng tranh giả lớn nhất thế giới và hành trình tìm thấy chính mình của thợ vẽ sau 20 năm chép tranh Van Gogh - Ảnh 9.

Trieu Tieu Dung in the Van Gogh Museum

I have painted this picture thousands of times. Without saying a word, he stared at the painting for more than 10 minutes.

Background, flowers, branches… He gazed intently, as if he wanted to engrave every detail of the picture in his mind.

Looking around, Trieu Tieu Dung painted most of Van Gogh’s paintings here.

After 20 years of painting, Trieu Tieu Dung felt an unprecedented strangeness when he saw the original work for the first time. “Not the same, the color is not the same…”.

After watching for a long time, he unconsciously wanted to reach out his hand to touch the painting but was stopped by the security guard.

I don’t know since when, Trieu Tieu Dung cried.

Until the museum closed, Trieu Tieu Dung came out like a sleepwalker, walked for a while and then squatted motionless on the side of the road.

On the way back to the hotel, he told the director: “I have painted 100,000 paintings in 20 years, but it is far behind Van Gogh’s paintings”.

Làng tranh giả lớn nhất thế giới và hành trình tìm thấy chính mình của thợ vẽ sau 20 năm chép tranh Van Gogh - Ảnh 10.

Trieu Tieu Dung lost in the Netherlands

That night, he couldn’t sleep again. “After returning to China, how should I continue to draw?”.

The trip quickly ended and it was time to say goodbye. The last day before returning, Trieu Tieu Dung came to Van Gogh’s tomb.

In front of the tombstone, he talked with Van Gogh for a long time. “Just one sentence, he is, born great and die glorious!”.

4. Find yourself after 20 years living off fake paintings

Trieu Tieu Dung returns to Dai Phan to share the experience of the trip with family and people in the village.

Initially excited and happy, but when the wine came out, Trieu Tieu Dung began to be quiet.

“People in the museum told me, I have been painting Van Gogh for 20 years, so do I have any works of my own? I was flabbergasted. I’m just copying, don’t have a work of my own, I don’t know how to respond. After all, we are just copyists. Admittedly, going from a painter to a painter is really difficult. But I still want to do it. I don’t want to be Van Gogh and end up starving, but I still want to be an artist.”

Listening to Trieu Tieu Dung confided, a girl also confessed that she wanted to change her painting style but was a bit hesitant.

Trieu Tieu Dung held her hand: “Tieu Ngu, do what you want” . The words came out as if he were speaking to himself.

Since then, Trieu Tieu Dung no longer copied Van Gogh, but started painting in front of his house.

Làng tranh giả lớn nhất thế giới và hành trình tìm thấy chính mình của thợ vẽ sau 20 năm chép tranh Van Gogh - Ảnh 11.

Trieu Tieu Dung’s painting shop

Under the technical basis of copying Van Gogh, Trieu Tieu Dung unleashed his creativity.

After 20 years of painting Van Gogh, his income is very stable. However, he decided to follow his heart.

Like many other famous painters, Trieu Tieu Dung also used his life experience as a template to create the painting “Drawing Studio” (rough translation).

The family has lived in this workshop for more than 10 years, copying Van Gogh day and night, like workers on a production line.

The weather is hot, the children are crying, the people are sleepy and tired, but still work like a machine.

Now, the picture puts an end to that life.

Làng tranh giả lớn nhất thế giới và hành trình tìm thấy chính mình của thợ vẽ sau 20 năm chép tranh Van Gogh - Ảnh 12.

In an interview with the director of the documentary “China’ Van Gogh”, it is known that Zhao Xiaoyong currently lives in the Jiangsu and Zhejiang areas, opening a small gallery.

Now Trieu Tieu Dung is quite successful, it is said that some works are sold for 5 figures.

In 2020, an establishment in the Netherlands placed an order for 800 paintings within a period of 40 days.

Làng tranh giả lớn nhất thế giới và hành trình tìm thấy chính mình của thợ vẽ sau 20 năm chép tranh Van Gogh - Ảnh 13.

Trieu Tieu Dung’s gallery and current works

Làng tranh giả lớn nhất thế giới và hành trình tìm thấy chính mình của thợ vẽ sau 20 năm chép tranh Van Gogh - Ảnh 14.

Làng tranh giả lớn nhất thế giới và hành trình tìm thấy chính mình của thợ vẽ sau 20 năm chép tranh Van Gogh - Ảnh 15.

This means that Trieu Tieu Dung’s workshop has to produce 20 paintings a day and the painter has to work overtime.

Because the number of orders was too large, the Dutch painting dealer had deposited more than 100,000 yuan, Trieu Tieu Dung was so happy that he almost cried.

Like Van Gogh, Trieu Tieu Dung ran frantically on the road to find himself.

Source: Zhihu

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