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 next month. Estimate: UKP 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) 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 20912 at Christie’s in London in the Impressionist / Modern Evening Sale. The estimate: UKP 1,2-1,600,000. I will be following it closely!

See: www.christies.com

During the last year I have carried out a trial for my Van Gogh project which entails examining all Van Gogh drawings worldwide –focusing on private collections- and describing them in a much needed online catalogue raisonné. Reports in the media about authentication issues  have brought me to the conclusion that it is too tricky nowadays for experts to express their opinion on authenticity; all too often collectors seeking authentication take legal action if their work is not included in a catalogue raisonné or have been declared ‘not by the artist’. 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. For articles regarding authentication issues see: www.theartnewspaper.com

I am now reading the newly published biography of Van Gogh by Steven Naifeh and Gregory White Smith. What a great work and what a tremendous undertaking this must have been! It is early days yet to judge about the entire book (I am on page 81, so still 988 pages to go..!), but what I have read so far is really high quality, not only in content but also in style.

Cf www.vangoghbiography.com

Perhaps I used slightly too many shades of blue to produce the site, but as from today www.vangoghdrawings.com is online! I hope many people will find their way to my site and will supply me with information on their Van Gogh drawing. 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.

On this blog you will be able to read about what is going on in the world of Van Gogh drawings. I will tell you about interesting exhibitions that are taking place. I will also inform you when a Van Gogh drawing comes up for sale or when a new Van Gogh drawing has been discovered.  The latter may not happen frequently, although it does happen every now and then!

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.