Châtaigniers en fleurs was painted in May 1890. It and the other works have not been seen in public in decades. Photograph: Sotheby's New York/Blaquier-Arrieta collection View image in fullscreen Châtaigniers en fleurs was painted in May 1890. It and the other works have not been seen in public in decades. Photograph: Sotheby's New York/Blaquier-Arrieta collection Vincent van Gogh Van Gogh to go on display before sale of ‘almost mythical’ private collection Châtaigniers en fleurs, valued at $180m, to be auctioned along with 11 other works by likes of Cézanne and Monet
Prefer the Guardian on Google For more than 50 years it was held in a private art collection with an “almost mythical status” that was likened to a miniature version of Paris’s Musée d’Orsay.
But a painting by Vincent van Gogh created during the last two months of his life will go on display this month before being put up for auction with a value of $180m (£136m).
Châtaigniers en fleurs (Chestnut Trees in Flower) was painted in May 1890 shortly after Van Gogh arrived in the French village of Auvers-sur-Oise. He died just weeks later.
Most Van Gogh works from this period now hang in the world’s leading museums – but Châtaigniers en fleurs is one of 12 impressionist and modern masterpieces from the collection of the Argentinian collector Nelly Arrieta de Blaquier, who died in 2020.
View image in fullscreen Fleurs dans une coupe by Paul Gauguin is among the 12 works up for sale. Photograph: Sotheby’s New York/Blaquier-Arrieta collection Philip Hook , a former director of impressionist and modern art at the auction house Sotheby’s and a regular expert on BBC One’s Antiques Roadshow, said the opening of the collection to buyers was a “historic moment”.
“For decades the Blaquier-Arrieta collection has been the stuff of legend: whispered about, kept from public view, it has attained an almost mythical status in the art world,” he said.
“One of the last great private collections of impressionist and post-impressionist art, it was formed when major examples by the great names were still within reach.”
View image in fullscreen Paul Cézanne’s Arlequin is valued at $150m. Photograph: Sotheby’s New York/Blaquier-Arrieta collection The Sotheby’s auction will also include Paul Cézanne’s Harlequin, painted in the late 19th century and valued at $150m.
They will be sold along with 10 other significant works by Camille Pissarro, Pierre-Auguste Renoir, Edgar Degas, Claude Monet, Paul Gauguin, Alfred Sisley, André Derain, Henri de Toulouse-Lautrec and Maurice de Vlaminck.
The 12 paintings are expected to fetch more than $450m in total. Several of the works went on display at Sotheby’s in London on Wednesday for two days and a number will be flown to Taipei, and then Hong Kong and Paris, before the auction on 18 November in New York.
The Van Gogh will be on view in Hong Kong from 13-15 October and in Paris from 19-23 October.
View image in fullscreen Claude Monet’s Le Jardin des Tuileries. Photograph: Sotheby’s New York/Blaquier-Arrieta collection Van Gogh painted at least four major works featuring chestnut trees in Auvers-sur-Oise during a period of optimism and energy after his discharge from a psychiatric hospital at Saint-Rémy-de-Provence. After his death in July 1890, Châtaigniers en fleurs passed to his brother, Theo. A subsequent owner was George Gard “Buddy” DeSylva, the US songwriter and film producer who co-founded Capitol Records.
It is one of only eight pain…