Dafen (town of painting replicas)

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Dafen is a suburb of Shenzhen in the Longgang District. In the early nineties a group of about twenty artists under the leadership of the painter and businessman Huang Jiang took up residence in this town. They specialised in the making of large numbers of replicas of oil paintings by masters such as Van Gogh, Dali, Da Vinci, Rembrandt or Warhol.

These replicas were sold in many countries for relatively low prices. The endeavor was quite successful and the demand for replicas increased. In order to fulfill the demand more and more artists took up residence and started to make a living, the estimate (2006) being in the thousands.

Many of the artists are trained at art academies in the required techniques and produce dozens of replicas daily.

These replicas are of paintings of artists who have died more than seventy years ago. Consequently there is no more copyright on these paintings. The only requirement is that it is made clear that these paintings are replicas. Currently, the village sells both original and replicas. It is possible to commission paintings for low prices. The village is a gated development, recognizable by the large sculpture of a hand outside it's gates.