Van Gogh's never before exhibited landscape to be auctioned this month

A long-hidden Vincent van Gogh painting will be auctioned at a joint Sotheby’s and Mirabaud Mercier auction this month. The painting, which has been held in the same private French collection for more than a century, is estimated to fetch between $6 million and $9.7 million (€5 million to €8 million).  

This work, titled Scène de rue à Montmartre (Street Scene in Montmartre), has not been publicly exhibited before; however, it has been documented and has appeared in seven catalogues. The artist created the painting in spring 1887, during a two-year stay in Paris with his brother Theo in Rue Lepic.  
 

“We were immediately captivated” upon seeing the work in person for the first time, said Mirabaud Mercier owners Claudia Mercier and Fabien Mirabaud in a statement. They also advised the clients—descendants of the original owners—and proposed a partnership strategy with Sotheby’s to maximize the pool of buyers and collaborate on a marketing strategy. Prior to the 25 March sale, the painting will be exhibited in Amsterdam, Hong Kong and Paris. 

“There are few comparable works from the Paris period that have come to the market. We chose both a conservative and attractive estimate,” said a representative of Sotheby’s Paris. In 2019, Sotheby’s sold a Parisian-themed work by Van Gogh, People Strolling in a Park in Paris, for $9. 7 million in New York

“Very few paintings from Van Gogh’s Montmartre period remain in private hands, with most of the series now held in prestigious museum collections around the world,” said Aurélie Vandevoorde and Etienne Hellman, senior directors of Sotheby’s Impressionist and modern art department in France.
 

In this work, Vincent van Gogh bears witness to his first contact with a new city, Paris, the capital of the 19th century. The work reflects Van Gogh’s exploration of a new city as well as his first encounter with the Impressionists and other avant-garde painters in Paris, which in turn sparked a transformation of his palette.

In this period Van Gogh's influence of Japanese prints on his work increased and he painted still lifes, portraits and cityscapes in an Impressionist and Post-Impressionist style. This period of the artist's life was based on study, renewal and experimentation. 
 

In 'Street Scene of Montmartre', Van Gogh chooses to depict one of Butte Montmartre's most famous landmarks, the Pepper Mill (Moulin Debray), located within the walls of the Moulin de la Galette. It was built around 1865 and was destroyed during the construction of the Avenue Junot in 1911. The mill is depicted here from the Impasse des Deux Frères, with the entrance to the grounds of the Moulin de la Galette crowned by decorative lanterns and a carousel visible behind the wood.  

The work is also a fascinating immersion into Montmartre at the end of the 19th century, when the mills, no longer in operation, became tourist attractions and entertainment venues where Parisians gathered to drink, dance and relax. It shows a vivid and original representation of a district of Paris that remains a mythical place for generations of artists. 

Thanks to his brother's contacts, he worked at Boussod&Valadon, a small successor gallery to Goupil, on the Boulevard de Montmartre. There he met other Impressionist painters such as Monet, Renoir and Pisarro. It was in these years that he met Paul Gauguin, who plays an important role in the story of Van Gogh and the cutting of the ear.  

It was in Paris that Vincent tried to make a name for himself by exhibiting in his brother Theo's own house, in Pére Tanguy's shop, in the Café Tambourin, in the Restaurant du Chalet, and in the Théâtre Libre in Paris. In the spring of 1888 Theo managed to have some of his works exhibited at the Salon des Independantes, which made his work known to a wider public. 

However, Paris eventually exhausted him, as family and social concerns (relationships with painters, long discussions about art, abuse of drink, among many others) came to the fore. He therefore felt the need for a change of scenery and to look for a quieter place where he could paint in the middle of nature all year round.