A painting by Vincent Van Gogh that has not been seen in public for a century will be auctioned in March with an estimated sale price of between 5 and 8 million euros (just over 6 and 9.7 million dollars) , Sotheby’s and Case Mirabaud Mercier announced on Wednesday.
The work “Street Scene in Montmartre (Alley of the Two Brothers and the Pepper Mill)” was painted in the spring of 1887 during Van Gogh’s time in Paris (1886-1888) and shows a couple walking through Montmartre Hill.
This painting, which has been in a private French collection for a century and has not been seen in public since then, will be the star of the impressionist art auction that both houses will hold in Paris on March 25.
On the journey of painting since Van Gogh painted it in 1887, the curator of the sale, Fabien Mirabaud, stated in a press conference that they believe that “Théo, his brother, kept it, that he went through some unknown intermediaries and that before 1920 it was already in the hands of the family that has owned it ever since. “
The two auction houses avoided giving details about the family’s identity, but explained that one of the conditions that was put up for auction was for it to take place in Paris, where they would like to stay, “although they assumed it was possible to finish abroad “, clarified Fabien Mirabaud, of the company that bears his name.
On the painting stage, the director of Impressionist art at Sothebys, Aurélie Vandevoorde, indicated that at that time the Parisian hill of Montmartre had two parts: “a more urbanized one, with the well-known cabarets and a more rural one, with orchards, mills, warehouses. .. This is the part that Van Gogh portrayed. “
The Dutch painter “preferred to show a bucolic scene rather than a portrait of the dance halls or cabarets in the neighborhood,” Mirabaud added.
The work will be exhibited at Sotheby’s in Amsterdam, Hong Kong and Paris before being auctioned in the French capital on March 25.
Experts managing this offer are confident that the estimated initial price will be reached, which is a lower input, for example, than that achieved in 2020 by a country landscape by the same painter sold in the Netherlands for 15 million euros (over 18 million of euro) dollars).
“It’s a revolutionary painting because it incorporates light colors and vivid pigments into Van Gogh’s work. It laid the groundwork for his inimitable style,” said Etienne Hellman, a specialist in the modern art and impressionism department at Sotheby’s.
Expert Aurélie Vandevoorde also pointed out that “in this painting the artist recovers the tradition of the Dutch landscape” which he uses to paint Montmartre, a neighborhood of artists.
The statement states that this painting is part of a “very rare series” of Van Gogh paintings with the famous Galette mill in Montmartre.
The Dutchman Van Gogh (1853-1890) lived in Paris between 1886 and 1888, during which time he coincided with some of the leading artists of the time, such as Gauguin, Pissarro and Toulouse-Lautrec, contacts that marked a strong evolution in his painting. , with which he distinguished himself in post-impressionism and expressionism.