‘Unseen’ Van Gogh painting sells at auction for €13 million

A Vincent Van Gogh painting, titled “A Street Scene in Montmartre” has sold for more than €13 million at auction, after spending more than 100 years behind closed doors.

Auction house Sotheby’s commented the auction price was a record for the Dutch artist in France, where the auction took place, and remarked that the final sale price was well over the estimate of €5-8 million.

One of the few Van Gogh paintings still under private ownership, it had been owned by a French family for most of its existence since it was painted in 1887. 

The painting was the highlight of the auction featuring 33 works from master artists, including Degas.

Its sale was not without confusion, however, when a slightly higher bid was abandoned due to issues with online bidding.

The painting is one of a series of works created by Van Gogh while lodging in Paris from 1886 to 1887. 

The period marked a transition in the artist’s work, as he began to explore expressionist techniques and new uses of colours, before his suicide in 1890. 

“Labourer in a Field”, the next most recent Van Gogh painting to be sold at a public auction, was sold for $81 million (€69 million) in 1889.