Vincent Van Gogh Painting To Go On Display For First Time After 50 Years Before Auction
For over 50 years, ‘Châtaigniers en fleurs’ by Vincent Van Gogh was being held in a private art collection with “almost mythical status” likened to some of the most beautiful museums around the world.
‘Châtaigniers en fleurs’ by Van Gogh, which translates to Chestnut Trees in Flower, was created during the artist’s last two months of his life. It will be going on display this month before it’s put up for auction. It’s currently valued to be worth $180 million.
The painting was created in May 1890 after Van Gogh arrived in the French village of Auvers-sur-Oise, and died just weeks later.
Most of the works created by Van Gogh during that period are displayed around the world in some of the most famous art museums.
‘Châtaigniers en fleurs’ is one of 12 impressionist and modern paintings being held in the private collection before this point.
Philip Hook, a former director of impressionist and modern art at the auction house Sotheby’s, said the “opening of the collection to buyers was a historic moment.”
“For decades the Blaquier-Arrieta collection has been the stuff of legend: whispered about, kept from public view, it has attained an almost mythical status in the art world,” he said.
“One of the last great private collections of impressionist and post-impressionist art, it was formed when major examples by the great names were still within reach.”
The Sotheby’s auction will also include Paul Cézanne’s ‘Harlequin,’ which was painted in the late 19th century and valued at $150 million.
Camille Pissarro, Pierre-Auguste Renoir, Edgar Degas, Claude Monet, Paul Gauguin, Alfred Sisley, André Derain, Henri de Toulouse-Lautrec and Maurice de Vlaminck are the other artists included in the collection that will be sold.
The 12 paintings are estimated to bring in over $450 million. The auction will take place on November 18th in New York. Right now, several of the paintings went on display at Sotheby’s in London with a number of them being flown to Taipei, and then Hong Kong and Paris.
The Van Gogh piece will be on display in Hong Kong from October 13th to the 15th and in Paris from October 19th to the 23rd.
Van Gogh painted at least four major works that feature chestnut trees in Auvers-sur-Oise during a period of optimism and energy after he was discharged from a psychiatric hospital.
After his death, the painting was given to his brother, Theo, and the subsequent owner was George Gard DeSylva, a US songwriter and film producer who co-founded Capitol Records.
Simon Shaw, a senior art adviser at Sotheby’s, said the collection felt “like a small museum – a miniature Musée d’Orsay, now opening its doors for the very first time.”
Eric Mastrota is a Contributing Editor at The National Digest based in New York. A graduate of SUNY New Paltz, he reports on world news, culture, and lifestyle. You can reach him at eric.mastrota@thenationaldigest.com.
