Sotheby’s to Sell Rarely Seen Vincent van Gogh Painting in Paris

A Vincent van Gogh painting from 1887 that has been held in a private collection for over 100 years will be offered at Sotheby’s in an Impressionist and modern art auction in Paris on March 25. Titled Scène de rue à Montmartre, the work will be on public display for the first time since its creation in Amsterdam, Hong Kong, and Paris ahead of the sale.

The painting, which is presented by Sotheby’s in collaboration with the French auction house Mirabaud Mercier, is estimated to sell for €5 million–€8 million (about $6 million–$9.7 million). It depicts the Moulin de la Galette in Montmartre, and it was created during the period that van Gogh lived with his brother, Theo, in Paris.

[Read about eight experts’ favorite works by van Gogh.]

“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,” Aurélie Vandevoorde and Etienne Hellman, senior directors of Sotheby’s Impressionist & Modern Art department in France, said in a statement. “The appearance on the market of a work of this caliber and from such an iconic series is undoubtedly a major event, and indeed opportunity, for both collectors of the artist and the art market more widely.”

Claudia Mercier and Fabien Mirabaud added in a release, “The moment we set eyes on this painting for the first time we were immediately captivated.”

The reemergence of Scène de rue à Montmartre is not the only major van Gogh news of late. Earlier this month it was announced that Christie’s will sell a rare drawn portrait, titled La Mousmé (1888), in New York in March. Meanwhile, after it was stolen from the Singer Laren museum almost a year ago, an early van Gogh painting remains missing.