Scène de rue à Montmartre.Photo courtesy: Sotheby’s
International auction house Sotheby’s will auction a rarely seen Vincent van Gogh painting from 1887, on March 25. The Scène de rue à Montmartre, was acquired by a French collector in 1920 and has remained in the same family since. It will be exhibited in London, Amsterdam and Paris, in its first public appearances, before going under the hammer.
“Very few paintings from Van Gogh’s Montmartre Period remain in private hands, with most of the series now held in prestigious museum collections around the world. The appearance on the market of a work of this calibre and from such an iconic series is undoubtedly a major event, and indeed an opportunity, for, both, collectors of the artist and the art market more widely,” said Aurélie Vandevoorde et Etienne Hellman, Senior Directors of Sotheby’s Impressionist & Modern Art Department in France.
Being auctioned in collaboration with French auction house Mirabaud Mercier, the beautiful painting by the master painter is estimated to fetch up to €80,00,000. The oil on canvas painted in late February-Mid April 1887 shows the Moulin de la Galette (a windmill destroyed in 1911) in Montmartre.
Main entrance of Moulin de la Galette, end of 19th Century. Photo courtesy: Sotheby’s
It brilliantly captures the atmosphere of Montmartre at the end of the 19th century, when the mills that were no longer operational had become tourist attractions and places of leisure where Parisians came to socialise. The painting was created when van Gogh lived with his brother in Theo (Paris).
Photo courtesy: Sotheby’s
“The moment we set eyes on this painting for the first time, we were immediately captivated. It is with great pleasure that we can now present this to the world, after being treasured by the same French family for a century,” said Claudia Mercier and Fabien Mirabaud of Mirabaud Mercier Auction House.
