A painting by Vincent van Gogh created during the final weeks of his life is set to go on display before being auctioned as part of one of the art world's most celebrated private collections.
The work, Châtaigniers en fleurs (Chestnut Trees in Flower), was painted in May 1890 shortly after Van Gogh arrived in Auvers-sur-Oise, the French village where he spent the last months of his life. The painting is expected to achieve around $180 million at auction.
Collection compared to a miniature Musée d'Orsay
The painting forms part of a collection assembled by Argentine collector Nelly Arrieta de Blaquier, who died in 2020.
For more than five decades, the collection remained largely out of public view, earning a near-legendary reputation among art specialists. Some experts have compared it to a private version of Paris' Musée d'Orsay, given the quality of the works it contains.
The sale includes 12 Impressionist and modern masterpieces, with a combined estimated value exceeding $450 million.
Cézanne, Monet and Gauguin among highlights
Alongside the Van Gogh, the auction will feature Paul Cézanne's Harlequin, valued at approximately $150 million.
Other artists represented in the collection include Claude Monet, Paul Gauguin, Camille Pissarro, Pierre-Auguste Renoir, Edgar Degas, Alfred Sisley, André Derain, Henri de Toulouse-Lautrec and Maurice de Vlaminck.
Several works are being exhibited internationally ahead of the sale, with selected pieces travelling to Taipei, Hong Kong and Paris before the auction takes place in New York on 18 November.
One of only a handful still in private hands
Art experts note that most Van Gogh paintings from his Auvers-sur-Oise period are now housed in major museums worldwide.
Chestnut Trees in Flower is considered particularly significant because it is one of only eight paintings from that period that remain in private ownership.
Following Van Gogh's death in July 1890, the work passed to his brother Theo van Gogh before later entering a series of private collections.
Art specialists have described the forthcoming sale as a rare opportunity to acquire works from a collection that has remained largely inaccessible to the public for decades.
Source: The Guardian
