The van Gogh Museum has announced today that it acquired the magnificent ‘Pollard willow’ by van Gogh. The drawing was sold at Christie’s London in the Impressionist and Modern evening sale on 7 February 2012 for under the low estimate for £1,273,250 inclusive of premium.

"Pollard Willow" by Vincent van Gogh

The Van Gogh Museum bought the watercolour, aided by various funds: the Vincent van Gogh Foundation, the BankGiro Loterij, Vereniging Rembrandt, the VSB Fonds, and the Mondriaan Fonds. The Museum bought it for 1.5 million euros.

I am very happy that the van Gogh Museum managed to acquire this drawing. It is one of the best and most representative watercolours of the Hague period. It will be on display at the Museum until 10 July 2012.

At Christie’s in New York a drawing by Van Gogh will be offered for sale on 2 May 2012 (lot 109). The drawing has been executed in charcoal February/March in 1885. It is one of the many studies Van Gogh made of a very characteristic head of a peasant woman while he was living with his parents in Nuenen (Brabant).

I have seen the Van Gogh drawing back in 1990 in New York, and later when it was sold to the current owner at Sotheby’s London in 2001. If you are interested you could always ask Christie’s to provide you with a condition report.

The estimate is $250.000-$350.000.

RESULT

The drawing sold for $722.500 inclusive of premium.

more Art Quotes

'Vue de l'asile et de la chapelle de Saint-Remy' by Vincent van Gogh

A Vincent van Gogh landscape “Vue de l’asile et de la Chapelle de Saint-Remy” (De la Faille 803, Hulsker 2124) and other paintings from the collection of Liz Taylor are up for auction in London on 7 February 2012.

Estimate:  £ 5-7,000,000.

In my opinion even more exciting is a wonderful Van Gogh drawing in the same sale, though not from the estate of the late Taylor. It is “Pollard Willow” (De La Faille 947; Hulsker 164) by Van Gogh, a watercolour executed in The Hague on 27 July 1882, and one of the few high-quality watercolours by Van Gogh still in private hands.

It will be offered for sale on 7 February 2012 at Christie’s in London in the Impressionist / Modern Evening Sale. The estimate: £ 1,2-1,600,000. I will be following it closely!

NEWS: The painting was sold for £10,121,250 inclusive of premium.

The drawing was sold for £1,273,250 inclusive of premium.

See: www.christies.com

Upon careful consideration, and with some pain in my heart, therefore, I have decided not to start the project as planned, but to carry out my Van Gogh research otherwise. I still feel that it would be worthwhile to have a definitive Van Gogh catalogue raisonné online, but I am reluctant to express my professional opinion publicly like many fellow arthistorians and experts. The new catalogue raisonné has therefore been postponed until the right formula is found. For articles regarding authentication issues see: www.theartnewspaper.com

Cf www.vangoghbiography.com

I yesterday saw a very nice Hague watercolour of the Soupkitchen in the Rijksmuseum Twente in Enschede. I saw the drawing many years ago with a private collector when I did research for my thesis and was happy to see it again; still in very good condition. They have it on loan for a couple of years. I greatly admire the fact that some collectors want to share their prized possessions with others.

We will get back to you once we have investigated your report.

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Images of the header and footer are courtesy of the Kröller-Müller Museum in Otterlo (header) and the Van Gogh Museum in Amsterdam (footer). Header: Vincent van Gogh, ‘Timmermansloods en wasserij’, May 1882 (detail); Footer: Vincent van Gogh, ‘Knotberken’, March 1886 (detail)

July, 2011

No Van Gogh drawings will be included in the forthcoming exhibition ‘Vincent van Gogh: Up Close’, but it deserves mentioning here. This exhibition, curated by Dr. Connie Homburg, will take place at the Philadelphia Museum of Art from 1 February to 6 May 2012. It contains some 45 paintings by Van Gogh from all over the world. The exhibition then travels to the National Gallery of Canada in Ottawa where it can be seen from 25 May 2012 to 3 September 2012.