Christie’s is offering an 1888 Vincent van Gogh painting in its 20th century art auction in New York on May 13. The work, titled Le Pont de Trinquetaille (1888), is estimated to fetch $25 million–$35 million.
The painting, measuring 25 inches by 31 inches, was drawn one year before his suicide at the age of 37 in 1890. It is one of the few landscapes from his coveted Arles period. The painting depicts a street scene showing the Trinquetaille bridge rendered using the artist’s signature expressive brushwork and warm color palette.
The work was in the hand of the widow of the artist’s brother, Theo. The painting was last offered in 2004 at Christie’s auction in New York where it was sold $11.2 million which was below its estimate of $12 million. Before that, it sold at Christie’s for $15.4 million in November 1999. It was last exhibited in 2016 at Oslo’s Munch Museum, in a show focused on van Gogh and Edvard Munch that also traveled to the van Gogh Museum in Amsterdam.
“Works of this scale and importance are incredibly rare and everything about it, from the vibrant, ‘absinthe’ color of the sky and the highly structured composition to the thick and expressive brushwork of the water speaks of an artist at the very height of his creative powers,” said Christie’s senior international director of Impressionist and modern art, Jay Vincze, in a statement.