PARIS – A rare painting by Vincent Van Gogh was sold at auction on Thursday by Sotheby’s Paris for 13.1 million euros ($ 15.4 million).
The sale of “Street Scene in Montmartre” was highly anticipated, as it was one of the few paintings by the Dutch impressionist master who was still in private hands. The auction house foresaw a sale between 5 million euros and 8 million euros.
Sotheby’s said the work remained in the same family’s collection for more than 100 years, out of public view.
It 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 wooden palisades that surrounded the place.
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It was painted in 1887, a year after Van Gogh moved to Paris and lived in Montmartre while staying with his brother Theo. He left the French capital in 1888 for the south of France, where he lived until his death in 1890.
It was among more than 30 works sold by Sotheby’s on Thursday from masters like Modigliani, Rodin, Camille Claudel, Degas, Klee and Magritte.