The Van Gogh Museum has revealed that three artworks previously believed to be by Vincent van Gogh, and held in private collections, are forgeries. This includes a painting sold at Christie’s in 2011 for nearly $1 million, despite having been authenticated by the museum at the time.
The discovery was made by three Van Gogh Museum experts—Teio Meedendorp, Louis van Tilborgh, and Saskia van Oudheusden—who shared their findings in the latest edition of Burlington Magazine. These works were initially accepted as genuine in the 1970 catalogue raisonné compiled by Jacob-Baart de la Faille, but new investigations have cast doubt on their authenticity.
One of the fakes, Interior of a Restaurant, was thought to be a second version of Van Gogh’s Interior of the Grand Bouillon-Restaurant le Chalet, Paris (1887). However, upon closer inspection, experts noted the brushwork deviated from Van Gogh’s signature style, and the colors used—such as Manganese blue—weren’t consistent with the pigments available to the artist during the 1880s.
Further discrepancies emerged in the floral motifs.
The first painting depicted autumn begonias, while the questioned piece showed yellow sunflowers, which would have been out of season by late autumn, when the original was believed to be made.
The second case centers around Head of a Peasant Woman with Dark Cap, which came from the estate of part-time art dealer Gerbrand Visser. Despite its authentication in 2008, a reevaluation in 2019—spurred by the submission of a similar painting—showed it to be a forgery, created between 1902 and 1909. This period corresponds with when the original painting changed ownership and became part of a private collection.
Christie’s, which sold the painting for $993,250 in 2011, issued a statement in response to the discovery: “We take every measure to ensure the authentication of all works consigned for sale, including seeking expertise from the most eminent experts around the world. The work was authenticated in 2011, having been confirmed as a Van Gogh. As a matter of practice, we cannot comment any further on individual consignments.”
The final painting, Wood Gatherers in the Snow (1884), had been accepted as genuine for decades. Originally sold in 1957 by the Earl of Inchcape Kenneth Mackay, the watercolor was recently debunked in 2020. Specialists concluded that the forger worked from a photograph first published in 1904. The forgery missed several key details, including a long vertical stick used by Brabant peasants, which should have been present in the composition.
The revelations cast fresh scrutiny on previously authenticated works and highlight the challenges of confirming the authenticity of historical artworks.
