PARIS (AP) – A rare painting by Dutch Impressionist master Vincent van Gogh of a street scene in the Parisian district of Montmartre will be shown publicly for the first time before its auction next month.
The Sotheby’s auction house said the work, painted in 1887, has remained in the same family collection for more than 100 years, out of public view.
It will be on display next month in Amsterdam, Hong Kong and Paris ahead of an auction scheduled for March 25 in the French capital.
“It’s an important painting in Vincent van Gogh’s work because it dates from the period he lived in Paris with his brother, Theo,” Etienne Hellman, senior director of impressionist and modern art at Sotheby’s, told 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, his paintings are much darker … In Paris he discovers color,” Hellman said. “Color explodes in box”.
“Street Scene in Montmartre” depicts a windmill called Pepper Mill, seen from the street under a bright sky, with a man, a woman and a girl walking in front of wooden palisades surrounding the place.
“Paris marks this period in which … the major Impressionists influence his work,” Hellman said.
Sotheby’s said the painting has been published in seven catalogs before, but has never been exhibited.
Claudia Mercier, auctioneer at the Mirabaud Mercier house, said that “it is also an important picture because there are many, very few, in private hands … especially from that time, most of them are already in museums”.
Sotheby’s has estimated the value of the painting between 5 and 8 million euros (between 6.1 and 9.8 million dollars). This did not reveal the identity of the owner.
It will be shown in Amsterdam from 1 to 3 March, in Hong-King on 9 and 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 on Montmartre Hill.