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New Vincent Van Gogh painting identified | New Vincent Van Gogh painting identified |
(about 1 hour later) | |
A previously unknown landscape painting by Vincent van Gogh has been identified by the Van Gogh Museum in Amsterdam. | A previously unknown landscape painting by Vincent van Gogh has been identified by the Van Gogh Museum in Amsterdam. |
Sunset at Montmajour - which depicts trees, bushes and sky - had spent years in a Norwegian private collector's attic after he had been told the work was not by the Dutch master. | Sunset at Montmajour - which depicts trees, bushes and sky - had spent years in a Norwegian private collector's attic after he had been told the work was not by the Dutch master. |
The museum said the painting was authenticated by letters, style and the physical materials used. | The museum said the painting was authenticated by letters, style and the physical materials used. |
It is the first full-size canvas by Van Gogh discovered since 1928. | It is the first full-size canvas by Van Gogh discovered since 1928. |
Museum director Axel Rueger called the discovery a "once-in-a-lifetime experience'' at an unveiling ceremony. | Museum director Axel Rueger called the discovery a "once-in-a-lifetime experience'' at an unveiling ceremony. |
He said the institution had previously rejected the painting's authenticity in the 1990s partly because it was not signed. | He said the institution had previously rejected the painting's authenticity in the 1990s partly because it was not signed. |
However thanks to new research techniques and a two-year investigation, it concluded the artwork was by the artist. | However thanks to new research techniques and a two-year investigation, it concluded the artwork was by the artist. |
Cobalt blue | |
Researcher Teio Meedendorp said he and other researchers "found answers to all the key questions, which is remarkable for a painting that has been lost for more than 100 years". | Researcher Teio Meedendorp said he and other researchers "found answers to all the key questions, which is remarkable for a painting that has been lost for more than 100 years". |
The piece can be dated to the exact day it was painted because the artist described it in a letter to his brother, Theo, saying he had painted it the previous day - on 4 July 1888. | The piece can be dated to the exact day it was painted because the artist described it in a letter to his brother, Theo, saying he had painted it the previous day - on 4 July 1888. |
He added he painted it "on a stony heath where small twisted oaks grow". | He added he painted it "on a stony heath where small twisted oaks grow". |
The details in the letter had previously been attributed to another of Van Gogh's works - entitled The Rocks - despite that work missing some of the elements he describes. | |
But researchers have now identified the location Sunset at Montmajour depicts as being near Montmajour hill, near Arles in France, where the artist was living at the time. | |
Writing in The Burlington Magazine, Meedendorp said almost all the pigments used in the artwork were ones he "habitually had on his palette at this time", including a cobalt blue he began using from the summer of 1887 onwards. | |
The painting was also listed among Theo van Gogh's collection as number 180 - and that number can still be seen on the back of the canvas. | |
After the work was sold in 1901, it apparently vanished until it re-appeared in the estate of Norwegian industrialist Christian Nicolai Mustad upon his death in 1970. | |
According to Mustad's family, the French ambassador to Sweden visited the collector soon after he bought the painting and suggested it was fake or had been wrongly attributed. | |
Consequently, Mustad banished the piece to the attic. | |
After his death, the collector's family contacted the Van Gogh museum in 1991 to verify its authenticity, but it was eventually decided it was not by the artist. | |
The painting will be on display at the museum from 24 September. | The painting will be on display at the museum from 24 September. |