Art Collector Claims Discovery Of Long-Lost Van Gogh Painting

The painting “Auvers, 1890” is “the greatest art find in 100 years,”according to collector Stuart Pivar, the New York Post reported.

The painting, which is signed on the back by “Vincent,” is unusual for its size at 36 inches by 36 inches. It would be Van Gogh's largest work and his only one created in a square format if proven authentic.  

“Auvers, 1890” depicts a rural commune outside of Paris, with the small community and its rolling wheat field bisected by a long grey railway line. The point-of-view in the painting comes from a great height, perhaps a church steeple.

Van Gogh lived in Auvers for the last two months of his life, turning out at least 70 paintings before shooting himself on July 27, 1890.

How Could This Happen? Ill-appreciated in his life, Van Gogh’s genius was belatedly recognized in the years following his suicide. It is uncommon for little-known or unknown Van Gogh paintings to be discovered. In March, the 1890 work "Street Scene in Montmartre," which was part of a private collection since 1920 and never publicly exhibited, was sold at auction by Sotheby's Paris for $15.4 million.

Pivar declined to identify the owners of the work and explain how they came to possess it.

“The origin of this picture is from people who do not want to be identified,” he reportedly said. “It was from an obscure auction in North America.

“The people involved are not art people, and I made promises to them not to reveal who they are,” he added. “At some point, the history might emerge because of the importance of the picture.”

There is a tragic history of lost Van Gogh paintings going back to 1933, when the government of Nazi Germany began to confiscate artwork owned by German-Jewish collectors. Many of these masterworks would later resurface across the Atlantic — the American Alliance of Museums identified 73 Van Gogh paintings acquired by U.S. that were originally owned by the German-Jewish collectors — while the whereabouts of dozens of looted Van Gogh works remains unknown.

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What Happens Next: One of the more unusual aspects of Pivar’s discovery is the condition of the work.

“The picture is in pristine original condition, painted on a coarse burlap canvas consistent with those used by Van Gogh late in his career,” Pivar said. “It is unlined and in its original stretcher to which it is tacked by small 19th-century nails.”

Pivar noted the work does not appear to have undergone any restoration, which is uncommon for a painting of its age, and he added the label on the back of the stretch identified it as having been the property of the early 20th century Parisian collector Jonas Netter.

“The back of the canvas bears the numbers ‘2726’ – a possible inventory number? – in white chalk,” he said. “The presence of a so-far unidentified wax seal on the stretcher provides a further clue.”

“Auvers, 1890” has been shipped to the Van Gogh Museum in Amsterdam for authentication. The museum has been closed since the start of the COVID-19 pandemic, but agreed to make an exception to Pivar based on the unusual nature of the work in question.

(Van Gogh’s “Self-Portrait, 1889,” created one year before his death. From the collection of Musée d'Orsay.)