The Van Gogh Deception

Content Warning: This novel references children in foster care and harm to children. It also references kidnapping. It plays into stereotypes by at times referring to a child in foster care as “lost.”

Fraud and the search for truth is one of the novel’s most prominent themes and highlights each character’s relationship to integrity, knowledge, and ways of seeing. On the plot level, Palmer’s scheme is entirely based on fraud, as his plan involves deceiving people and selling forged paintings. He operates by hiding the truth and relies on repurposed canvases, anonymous identities, and the destruction of a paper trail and security camera footage to con his buyers and elude the authorities. The success of Palmer’s plan depends not solely on how accurately his forger mixes the chemicals or applies the paint, but also on his buyers’ behaviors. Art’s father explains, “[t]he fake van Gogh was really, really good—the best fake I’ve ever seen. But more important, there’s pride involved” (305). He further explains that art fraud relies on people’s inability to see beyond appearances, whether that is out of gullibility, manipulation, or wish fulfillment. Hamilton contends that “no one wants to believe they paid hundreds of millions of dollars for a fake—so they simply don’t ask” (306).