A rare Vincent van Gogh landscape will be sold at auction for the first time in a joint sale at Sotheby’s and Mirabaud Mercier, a Paris auction house, next month. The painting has been held in the same private French collection for more than a century and despite being published in seven catalogues, it has never been exhibited. It is estimated to sell for $6 million to $9.7 million (€5 million to €8 million).
Painted in the Spring of 1887 during Vincent van Gogh’s two-year sojourn in Paris, Scène de rue à Montmartre, is not only a major work by the artist but also from his very rare series of paintings depicting the legendary Moulin de la Galette in Montmartre. The exhibition will be held in Amsterdam, Hong Kong, and Paris ahead of the Impressionist & Modern Art auction on 25 March.
Scène de rue à Montmartre is a remarkable witness to a crucial moment in the oeuvre of one of the greatest masters of modern art. In 1887, Van Gogh was living with his brother Theo in Paris on the Rue Lepic and was fascinated by the peculiar pastoral yet urban atmosphere of Montmartre where the mills blended with cabarets. This work shows Vincent’s view about the new city which was the capital in the 19th century. The painting was different from his prior works as all the dark tones were replaced by the colors and was shown in its brilliance. The painting shows the artist first encounter with the Impressionists and other avant-garde painters in Paris which affected his works
In this work, the artist chooses to represent one of the most famous places in the heart of La Butte: the Pepper Mill, also known as the Moulin Debray. The painting captures the vivid description of the atmosphere in Montmarte at the end of the 19th century when the mills were not working anymore and had become tourist attractions and places of leisure where Parisians came to mingle, drink, dance and relax.
“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,” said Aurélie Vandevoorde and Etienne Hellman, senior directors of Sotheby’s Impressionist and modern art department in France.
