New Van Gogh painting discovered

Translated from NOS TV in the Netherlands:

Discovery of new Van Gogh

Monday Sep 9 2013, 10:53 (Update: 09-09-13, 13:31)

The Van Gogh Museum in Amsterdam has discovered a new painting by Vincent van Gogh. Van Gogh made the work Sunset at Montmajour in 1888, ​​near Arles in southern France.

The museum speaks of a rare discovery. According to the museum this is a pivotal piece of work and a highlight in his oeuvre. In the same period he painted also work like Sunflowers, The Yellow House and The bedroom.

Research

The canvas is owned by a private individual. It is not clear whether he knew that this was a canvas by Van Gogh. There has been much research on the relatively large painting, 93.3 by 73.3 centimeter.

The attribution to Van Gogh is based on extensive research on its style, technique, paint, cloth, representation and Van Gogh’s letters.

“Everything we found pointed out that this work was by Van Gogh. Stylistically and technically, there are numerous parallels with other Van Gogh paintings from the summer of 1888. Literature and archival research also helped us to find out about the earliest history of the painting. It was part of the collection of Theo van Gogh in 1890 and was sold in 1901,” the researchers say.

Arles

The location on the painting was recognized by the researchers. The scenery is not far from Arles near the Montmajour hill with the ruin of its eponymous abbey. There are two letters from the artist from the summer of 1888 which refer literally to the painting.

Van Gogh wrote in the letters that the work was a failure. This can be explained because the painting, besides strong and distinct features of Van Gogh also has weak and less convincing parts.

The work will be in a year-long exhibition at the Van Gogh Museum, starting 24 September. The museum has the canvas on loan from the owner. Whoever that is was not disclosed.

See also here.

In 1991, the Van Gogh Museum had already investigated this painting. Then, they concluded it was not a real Van Gogh.

Related articles

• Van Gogh Painting Discovered, Amsterdam Museum Reports (bloomberg.com)
• A Newly Discovered ‘Failure’ by Vincent Van Gogh (theatlanticwire.com)
• New Van Gogh painting discovered (theguardian.com)
• Vincent Van Gogh painting discovered in attic unveiled in Amsterdam (telegraph.co.uk)
• New Van Gogh painting identified (bbc.co.uk)
• Museum unveils newly discovered Van Gogh painting (o.canada.com)