Fredrik Saker

Fredrik Saker’s beautifully-faked ID

How a painter duped the Swedish government with a lifelike self-portrait.

Arts

Fredrik Saker's painted ID. 

Fredrik Saker/ Courtesy of Fredrik Saker

Fredrik Saker is a Swedish artist who paints hyper-realistic portraits.

People kept telling him that his paintings looked just like photographs, which gave him the idea for the ultimate test of his work: He would paint a self-portrait, take a picture of it, and send it to the Swedish Transport Authority to renew his license.

It worked.