US$180 Million Van Gogh on Show in Hong Kong Ahead of New York Auction
A landscape painting by Vincent van Gogh, hidden from public view for more than half a century, will be going under the hammer this November at Sotheby’s in New York.
Van Gogh painted Chataigniers en fleurs (Chestnut Trees in Flower), in May 1890, just over two months before his death. The work is expected to sell for US$180 million, beating the existing auction record for the artist.
Having spent a year at an asylum in Saint-Rémy-de-Provence, France, recovering from a mental health crisis and the mutilation of his ear, Van Gogh came to Auvers-Sur-Oise near Paris on the recommendation of his friend Dr Paul Gachet, who lived in the village.
The move represented a fresh start. Van Gogh threw himself into work there with remarkable energy during a period that Niichel describes as “a moment of tremendous creativity and hopefulness”. It was a time when the artist painted gardens, wheat fields and the chestnut trees that lined the streets near his lodgings – trees he would have passed daily and likely come to know intimately.
The work is one of only eight of the 50 landscape paintings Van Gogh produced in Auvers that remain in private hands, and was one of the last great works by the artist to appear at auction.
Main Image: Vincent van Gogh’s Pink and white flowering chestnut tree, painted in 1890 and estimated at $150-200 million Courtesy Sotheby's