Unknown Van Gogh painting found in the attic in Norway Automatic translate

The stunning landscape, which spent most of his life in one of the Norwegian attics, turned out to be an unknown work by Vincent Van Gogh. The found masterpiece astounded the scientists: the painting belongs to the period of the artist’s life in Arles, in the south of France. It was then that he created such works as The Yellow House and The Sunflowers.

Van Gogh - Sunset on Montmajour

As Burlington magazine notes on its pages, three Dutch experts from the Van Gogh Museum in Amsterdam, responsible for the study of the painting, have already called the work “absolutely sensational.”

The painting “Sunset at Montmajour” was presented at a special ceremony in the Dutch capital. Axel Rüger, director of the museum, said such cases only happen once in a lifetime.

The painting was painted in 1888, and demonstrates the beauty of the countryside near Arles and the ruined abbey on the Montmajour hill. Researchers believe that the painting was bought by Norwegian industrialist Christian Nicolai Mustad in 1908 on the advice of art historian and restorer Jens Thiis, who became director of the Oslo National Museum that year. Everything was perfect as long as the family story tells, until the French ambassador in Sweden visited the house of Mastad. It was he who suggested that the picture is a fake or mistakenly attributed to the brush of Van Gogh. After this incident, a frustrated industrialist threw the canvas into the attic.

Indeed, fakes were very common at that time. Because of this, many art connoisseurs felt insecure. However, the researchers are not sure that it was the ambassador who played the fateful role in the fate of the picture. They tend to believe that this was the consul in Paris, Auguste Pellerin (Auguste Pellerin), who possessed a significant authority as a collector. Interestingly, Pellerin was the owner of a company that directly competed with Mastad’s business in Norway.

Mastad died in 1970, and the picture was twice recognized as a fake. Including - and experts at the Van Gogh Museum in 1991. However, today all the evidence gathered allows us to confidently determine the authorship of the canvas.

Burlington Magazine quotes an interesting quote from Van Gogh from his letter to Brother Theo. In it, he talks about amazing sunlight - “absolute golden rain” - and beautiful lines. In particular, the artist wrote: “You would not be surprised at all to see the knights and ladies suddenly appearing, returning from a falconry, or hearing the voice of the old Provencal troubadour…”

It was previously thought that in this letter, Van Gogh talks about his painting The Rocks, which today hangs at the Museum of Fine Arts in Houston. However, it has now become apparent that the statement refers specifically to "Sunset on Montmajour."

In the main exposition of the Van Gogh Museum, the picture will appear after September 24.

Anna Sidorova © Gallerix.ru