Vincent van Gogh: “Child with Orange”, 1890
Van Gogh’s “The Child with an Orange” for sale at the TEFAF The child with an orange is a cheerful child portrait painted by Vincent van Gogh in June 1890. The work will be offered for sale for $30 million at the TEFAF Maastricht]]>
March 1st 2008
No doubt Vincent van Gogh is one of the “superstars” in the Art market. Despised in life, after his death his works experienced an extraordinary revaluation, reaching its zenith in the late eighties and early nineties, when “Sunflowers” first and “Portrait of Dr. Gachet” later became the most expensive paintings ever sold.
However, in the last 5 years the works by the red-haired Dutchman seem to have suffered a small slump in their prices, perhaps due to the huge boom in the market for Contemporary Art. This was evident last November, when an extraordinary and beautiful landscape, “Wheat Field”, failed to reach its reserve price of $25 million. theartwolf.com defined this as the biggest disappointment in the Art market of year 2007. Now, another great work by van Gogh appears in the market ready to relaunch the important sales for this great painter, but this time not at auction
“The child with an orange (L’Enfant a l’Orange)” is a cheerful child portrait painted by Van Gogh in June 1890. The work, owned by a family of Swiss collectors, will be offered by the dealer Simon Dickinson at the TEFAF Maastricht, one of the world’s most important Art fairs -arguably the most important- with an estimated price of 20 million euros ($30 million). Although it’s not a supreme masterwork such as “Portrait of Dr. Gachet”, it’s an important work painted just one month before the artist’s death. Another work of similar quality, “L’Arlésienne, Madame Ginoux”, was sold two years ago at Christie’s for $40 million. This, and the fact that the profits from the sale will go to charitable causes related to children, make that the asking price of $20 million did not seem excessive, considering it is an important work of the most famous and prolific artists, created 2 months prior to her suicide. By seeking a work of similar quality recently sold, could bring “L’Arlésienne, Madame Ginoux,” a portrait sold at Christie’s two years ago for $ 40 million. This, and the fact that profits from the sale go to charitable causes related to children, make that 20 million requested by this work do not seem excessive.
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