Fuji is Using 3D Printing and Scanning to Create Near-Flawless Van Gogh Replicas

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For those art enthusiasts who just don’t have the millions of dollars required to purchase their own original Van Gogh painting, Fujifilm has a solution for you. After seven years of development, the company’s “Reliefography” 3D scanning and printing technique is ready to create near-flawless replicas of great works of art, which will be available to the public for tens of thousands instead of tens of millions.

This new technique — a combination of 3D scanning, digital imaging and printing technologies — was created by Fujifilm Belgium. And now that it’s ready to be put to use, Fuji Europe has partnered up with the Van Gogh Museum to show just how amazing Reliefography is.

The process is so detailed that Fuji can only create 3 replicas per day, but the “Relievos” the technique spits out are accurate down to the brush strokes on the front and the torn labels, stamps and handwriting on the back. The copies won’t fool an art expert, but they’re still being called the “ultimate fine-art reproduction.”

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“We are very excited to work together with the Van Gogh Museum on this fascinating project,” said Richard Tackx, Fujifilm Belgium’s Director of Sales and Marketing. “The result of our joined efforts is a very high quality reproduction and we hope the market will respond very positively to this unique product.”

So far five of Van Gogh’s paintings have been re-created using this technique, but Fujifilm has an exclusive three-year deal with the museum, so many more should be on their way.

For now, the plan is to test release the project in the Hong Kong market and gauge interest in these sorts of products. Each copy will be limited to a print run of 260, and if these Relievos make it stateside, getting one of your own will cost you about $34,000.

That’s not exactly “cheap,” but considering the fact that Van Gogh’s Vase with Fifteen Sunflowers last sold for $39.7 million in 1987 (adjusted for inflation, that would be about $82.4 million today), $34,000 seems like chump change.

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