Chinese Copies of Famous Paintings (What you need to know)

When you hear the term “art copy” or “art reproduction” you’ll probably think of China. Certainly, when you put these terms into Google, Chinese art reproduction websites spring up promising to paint you museum quality art reproductions of your favourite famous paintings at low low prices.

art reproductions china

The prices for an art replica with a Chinese art reproduction company can be ridiculously low, which is clearly a good thing and they do proclaim to paint museum quality paintings of famous paintings. So you’re probably thinking, ‘Great! I’ll use them’! But are they really as good as they claim?

are chinese art replicas cheap

In case you were unaware about the Chinese connection to famous art reproductions, China is known as the world’s oil painting factory. Dafen oil painting village in Southern China is where the global trade of art reproductions happen. Back in the day in 2008, 60% of the world’s fine art reproductions came from China. 60%!

In 2015 Dafen’s revenue from their reproduction oil paintings came to $630 Million. That’s big bucks. So these Chinese copies of famous paintings must be great right, since they’re making so much money? Well no, not if you really are looking for museum quality art replicas.

china copies of famous paintings

Chinese copies of famous paintings are great on a commercial wholesale level for the big box chains, furniture stores, companies who just need or want a piece of cheap art to put on their walls. Chinese copies of famous paintings are also a good fit for people who aren’t too fussy if their art replica doesn’t really look exactly like the original and for people who don’t know too much about art.

copies of famous paintings

I’ve been in the fine art reproduction industry for 12 years now and having of course been to Dafen to see what the many art factories were like, and talking with people there I was told that the majority of Chinese art copies are painted for the American market since the European and UK market reject them. The quality is just too low for us. Even the supposed “museum quality” Chinese art copies do not meet the standard that we expect and need for us to be able to put on our walls.

So what exactly is wrong with these Chinese art copies of famous paintings? Lets take a look at some examples.

Art Reproduction Examples

1. Van Goghs’ Sunflowers (A Chinese art copy)

chinese copies of famous paintings

Chinese art copy of Van Gogh’s Sunflowers. Not exactly museum quality is it?

Ok I’m going to put the original next to the Chinese copy so you can compare and contrast and note any discrepancies.  Here you go the Chinese art copy and the original.

sunflowers vangogh art copy

As you can see the Chinese art replica is not exactly great. If museum quality means that an art copy would be suitable to hang in a museum, I don’t think The National gallery would be asking this Chinese reproduction company to paint them a reproduction anytime soon.

Since I’m asking you to judge another company’s work it’s only fair that I do the same for our artwork. Below is Fabulous Masterpieces’ reproduction of the Sunflowers with the original.

Van Gogh’s original with a Fabulous Masterpieces fine art copy.

van gogh sunflowers

Van Gogh actually painted 12 versions of the Sunflowers, this version of the Sunflowers above is the version actually found in The National gallery in London. 

Chinese art reproduction – Famous copy example number 2 – The Mona Lisa.

You can’t get much more famous than the Mona Lisa .  Now imagine you’ve commissioned a famous art copy of the Mona Lisa with a Chinese art reproduction company and they send you the below oil painting. Would you be happy with this quality?

mona lisa chinese art copy

A Chinese art copy of the Mona Lisa. Would you be happy with this?

chinese famous painting copy mona lisa

A Chinese art copy of the Mona Lisa with Da Vinci’s original.

Would you call these chinese copies of famous paintings, museum quality or top end? I wouldn’t be happy with putting either of these Chinese reproduction oil paintings on my wall but some might. And if you only want to pay $80 or so, you can’t really expect much more.

 

Monet – A Chinese copy of a famous painting, example number 3.

chinese art reproductions

Chinese art copy of Monet’s Woman with Parasol

chinese art copies famous paintings

Looking at the Chinese copy of Woman with a Parasol alongside Monet‘s original, you can see obvious differences. The reproduction oil painting looks like a child has painted it. Would you really want it on your wall? But again, if you’re only wanting to spend $100 on an oil painting, you can’t really expect much more.

 

Quality versus budget

quality art reproductions

In the art reproduction industry, in general you get what you pay for. Art reproduction companies are not created equal. Yes, just about everybody says they can paint museum quality replica oil paintings but the truth is the majority of these art replica companies do not live up to their promises.  If you look closely at their portfolios you’ll be able to judge for yourself if you’re happy with the quality that you see.

 

Commissioning a copy artist

mona lisamona lisa replica

    Mona Lisa – The Original                            The Mona Lisa by Fabulous Masterpieces

Would you like one of our copy artists to hand paint you a fine art replica of your favourite painting?   Please take a look at our portfolios to garner more evidence of the quality of our artwork. Everything, is of course hand painted and you will receive photos once your art reproduction is completed for approval purposes. For more information please email: [email protected]

Have a question?

We’d love to hear from you! If you would like to add something, or ask a question concerning art reproductions please leave a comment below.

 

Who are we?

art reproduction

We’re a fine art reproduction company called Fabulous Masterpieces that solely concentrates on painting museum quality art reproductions onto canvas. We’ve even produced a magazine on the topic to help you out if you want to learn more about fine art copies. Just click on the image above.

Bye for now!

Anna X

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