Van Gogh’s youth painting was awarded over 7 million euros in Paris last Monday at the first auction of a Dutch artist’s work in France in over 20 years, Artcurial announced.
« Raccommodeuses de filets dans les dunes » (1882) was awarded 7,065,000 euros to an American collector « after a fierce battle », while this 1882 work was estimated between 3 and 5 million euros.
Artcurial had previously called the sale an « event », with « fewer and fewer works by Van Gogh in circulation », or « no more than two or three per year at auction in the world ».
According to Artcurial, this is a « world record for a landscape of Van Gogh, Dutch period, sold at auction ».
The work was painted at the very beginning of Van Gogh’s career, when he was 29 years old.
« Painted in August 1882, she carries within her all the premises of the pictorial revolution of the author of La nuit étoilée, » Artcurial explained.
« We already find all the characteristics of Vincent’s painting, notably the treatment of landscapes, leaving the main place to the earth, and that of the skies always very worked. This landscape is more than remarkable, an essential milestone in the artist’s career, » according to Bruno Jaubert, Associate Director of Artcurial’s Modern Art Department.
« This is Vincent’s only landscape painted at that time, example of the influence of the Barbizon school and The Hague school« , estimated the expert.
Oil on paper marouflé on panel, « Raccommodeuses de filets dans les dunes » was realized in the countryside near The Hague, « saisie avec beaucoup de vivacité », according to Bruno Jaubert.
The former owner, a European collector, lent the work to the Van Gogh Museum in Amsterdam for 8 years until 2015.
The Montreal and The Hague museums presented it successively between 1960 and 2010.
The last auction of a Van Gogh in Paris dates back to the mid-1990s: »Le Jardin à Auvers » had reached 10 million dollars.