“Street scene in Montmartre” was painted in the spring of 1887, three years before the Dutch master presumably died by suicide.
It shows Parisians walking through a rural and sparse landscape in Montmartre, a historic district that is today one of the city’s most popular destinations.
The painting will be shown to the public for the first time before being sold at auction in Paris. It is expected to fetch between 5 million and 8 million euros ($ 6 million and $ 9.7 million) when it goes under the hammer in March.
“The moment we first saw this painting, we were immediately captivated,” said Claudia Mercier and Fabien Mirabaud of the Paris auction house Mirabaud Mercier, who discovered the work.
“It is with great pleasure that we can now present it to the world, having been cherished by the same French family for a century,” they said in a statement.
The painting is part of a series of works depicting the famous Moulin de la Galette, a windmill turned into a dance hall in Montmartre. The district is still popular with tourists and locals because of its town feel, but the surrounding streets have been built up and now look little with the scene in the painting.
The painting is expected to bring in nearly $ 10 million. Credit: Sotheby’s / ArtDigital Studio
Sotheby’s said the painting provided a portal to Montmartre at the end of the 19th century, when the obsolete mill became a tourist attraction and place of recreation where Parisians would meet to drink, dance and relax.
“Very few paintings from the Montmartre period by Van Gogh remain in private hands, and most of the series are now kept in prestigious museum collections around the world,” said Aurélie Vandevoorde and Etienne Hellman, senior directors of the Impressionist and Modern Art division. in Sotheby’s, which handles the sale, in a statement.
“The appearance on the market of a work of this caliber and from such an iconic series is undoubtedly an important event and indeed an opportunity for both artist collectors and the art market.”
The painting will be auctioned off on March 25 by Sotheby’s in Paris. Before that, it will be shown publicly in Amsterdam and Hong Kong before leaving for France.