A rare painting by Dutch impressionist master Vincent van Gogh of a street scene in Paris’s Montmartre neighborhood will be shown publicly for the first time before its auction next month.
Auction house Sotheby’s said the work, painted in 1887, remained in the same family’s collection for more than 100 years – out of public view.
It will be shown next month in Amsterdam, Hong Kong and Paris, ahead of an auction scheduled for March 25 in the French capital.
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“It is an important painting in Vincent van Gogh’s work because it dates from the period when he lived in Paris with his brother, Theo,” said Etienne Hellman, senior director of Impressionist and Modern Art at Sotheby’s, to the Associated Press.
Van Gogh moved to Paris in 1886 and lived in Montmartre. He left the capital in 1888 for the south of France, where he lived until his death in 1890.
“Before that, his paintings are much darker … In Paris, he discovers color,” said Hellman. “Color explodes in the painting.”
Sotheby’s personal exhibition “Scene de rue à Montmartre” (Street scene in Montmartre), a painting by the Dutch master Vincent van Gogh at the auction house Sotheby’s in Paris, Thursday, February 25, 2021. (AP Photo / Christophe And on)
“Street Scene in Montmartre” depicts a windmill called Pepper Mill, seen from the street under a clear sky, with a man, a woman and a girl walking in front of the wooden palisades that surrounded the place.
“Paris marks this period where … the greatest impressionists influence their work,” said Hellman.
Sotheby’s said the painting had been published in seven catalogs before, but was never shown.
Claudia Mercier, auctioneer at Mirabaud Mercier, said, “It is also an important painting because there are very, very few of them in private hands … especially from that period, most are in museums now.”
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Sotheby’s estimated the value of the painting at between 5 and 8 million euros (between $ 6.1 and $ 9.8 million). Is that it did not reveal the identity of the owner.
It will be on display in Amsterdam from 1 to 3 March, Hong-King from 9 to 12 March and in Paris from 16 to 23 March.
The pepper mill was destroyed during the construction of an avenue in 1911, but two similar windmills are still present today on the Montmartre hill.