Dutch Museum presents unpublished painting by Van Gogh

The art world was not expecting this surprise, but this week an unpublished painting by Vincent Van Goh was presented in Amsterdam. The work, called “Sunset in Montmajour” was, to this day, unknown, and had been forgotten for six decades in the attic of a Norwegian businessman who considered it fake.

The news was unveiled at the Van Gogh Museum last Monday (09.09), declared true and dated 1888. To reach its authentication, a two-year survey was conducted with experts who evaluated the letters the painter exchanged with acquaintances. and relatives talking about the works, as well as chemical analysis of the pigments and radiographs of the canvas.

Since 1928 there was no knowledge of an unpublished work by the author and the museum's director, Axel Ruger, described the discovery as "a unique experience in life". “A discovery of this magnitude has never happened in the history of this museum. This is a great painting of what many see as the highlight of their artistic achievement of their Arles period in southern France, ”Rueger told reporters.

Valuable discovery

It was during this same period as described above that Van Gogh painted iconic works such as "The Sunflowers", "The Yellow House" and "The Fourth". According to the painting's "journey" reenactment, which was published in Burlington magazine, the painting was recorded at number 180 in Theo's collection (Vincent's brother) and titled "Setting Sun on Arles." It was first sold to French art dealer Maurice Fabre in 1901.

Fabre never recorded the sale of the work and it disappeared from history until it reappeared in 1970 on the property of Norwegian businessman Christian Nicolai Mustad. The family said Mustad bought it in 1908 from a young man on one of his first forays into collecting, but was soon told by the French ambassador in Sweden that it was a scam. Embarrassed, Mustad banished the painting to the attic of his home.

After Mustad's death in 1970, art dealer Daniel Wildenstein said he thought the painting was a Van Gogh fake or, eventually, the work of a little-known German painter and sold it to another collector, who had the work until two years ago and also thought she was fake.

However, in 2011, he took the screen to the museum to answer the question and had a big surprise. This last collector was not identified by the museum. It is noteworthy that Van Gogh's works are among the most valuable in the world, reaching tens of millions of dollars on the rare occasions when they are sold at auctions.

Authentic Features

"Sunset in Montmajour" depicts a landscape of oaks, shrubs, and wheat fields in the background. It was created during the period when Van Gogh began to adopt the thicker brush strokes, becoming a typical style of his work in the last years of his brief life.

It was not difficult for the experts to find the time - and the right date - when the painting was made, for there was a letter in which Van Gogh wrote to his brother Theo telling the landscape he had just painted and that it corresponded exactly to “Sunset at Montmajour”.

In the letter he said: “At sunset I was in a boulder area where small twisted oaks grew. In the background, a ruin on the hill and fields of wheat in the valley. It was romantic ... The sun was shedding its very yellow rays on the bushes and on the ground, absolutely a golden shower, "wrote the painter on July 4, 1888.

Still in the letter, Van Gogh confessed to his brother that the painting was not as good as he would have liked and sent the canvas to Theo to keep in his collection. The work will be exhibited from September 24 in Amsterdam, the Netherlands.

Vincent Van Gogh struggled with his mental anguish crises throughout his life and committed suicide in 1890 at the age of 37. He sold only one painting while alive.