The street scene in Montmartre by Vincent van Gogh was made known to the public

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Written by Rob PichetaChloe Adams, CNN

Finally, a painting by Paris by Vincent van Gogh has been unveiled, which has almost never been seen by the public after being kept in the private collection of a French family for more than a century.

The street scene in Montmartre was painted in the spring of 1887, three years before it was believed that the Dutch master died by suicide.

It shows Parisians walking through a rural and sparse landscape in Montmartre, a historic district that is today one of the most popular destinations in the city.

The painting will be presented for the first time at the public exhibition before being sold at an auction in Paris. He is expected to get between 5 and 8 million euros ($ 6 million and $ 9.7 million) when he goes under the hammer.

“The moment we stared at this painting for the first time we were immediately captivated,” said Claudia Mercier and Fabien Mirabaud of the Parisian auction house Mirabaud Mercier, who discovered the work.

“It is with great pleasure that we can now present it to the world, after having been treasured by the French family itself 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 converted into a ballroom in Montmartre. The district is still popular with tourists and locals because of its village feel, but the surrounding streets have been built and now bear little resemblance to the painting scene.

The painting is expected to contribute about $ 10 million.

The painting is expected to contribute about $ 10 million. Credit: Sotheby’s / ArtDigital Studio

Sotheby’s said the painting provided a portal to Montmartre in the late 19th century, when obsolete mills became tourist attractions and entertainment venues where Parisians gathered to drink, dance and relax.

“Very few paintings from Van Gogh’s Montmartre period remain in private hands, with most of the series now in prestigious museum collections around the world,” said Aurélie Vandevoorde and Etienne Hellman, senior directors of the Impressionist art department. and modern Sotheby’s France, which manages the sale, in a statement.

“The appearance on the market of a work of this caliber and of such an emblematic series is undoubtedly an important event and, in fact, an opportunity both for the artist’s collectors and for the market of the ‘art’.

The painting will be auctioned by Sotheby’s in Paris on March 25th. Earlier, it will be shown publicly in Amsterdam and Hong Kong before heading to France.

Van Gogh was undervalued throughout his career. He died in 1890, allegedly after being shot. The rusty handgun that is understood to have been used in the shooting was later discovered and sold in 2019.

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