Supreme pendants: van Gogh’s Gachet and Ginoux
(Imagine this two melancholic portraits hanging together in your walls)
Vincent van Gogh’s L’Arlessiene at auction
Recap: the painting have been sold for $40,336,000 to an anonymous buyer
Next May 2nd, Christie’s will auction in New York the “L’Arlésienne, Madame Ginoux”, a work by Vincent van Gogh that will be the certain star of the auction season, with an estimate price of $40 – 50 million.
With the possible exception of Picasso, van Gogh is now the most sought-after name in the frenzied world of the art market. However, in the last years the Dutch superstar seems to have lost a bit of “charm” against the increase in the prices of other artists, especially the contemporary ones. Since the impressive and almost inexplicable $71 million paid for the “self-portrait of the artist without beard” in 1998, some important works by the Dutch red-haired painter (Les Alyscamps, Trinquetaille Bridge , or the highly important “La roubine du roi”) have not achieved the exorbitant prices that some art experts had predicted. Now, with the presence of this work as the star of the season, is quite possible that this tendency could change.
Is this work really worth its estimate? Possibly. Although it’s by far not as famous as the “Portrait of the Doctor Gachet” ($82.5 million in 1990) shares with it the style, the in-depth psychological representation and even the melancholic pose. Of course, it does not posses the fascinating story of the Gachet, and overall its quality is a bit inferior. Nevertheless, it’s much more attractive than the “Young peasant with straw hat” bought by Steve Wynn for $40 million some years ago, and recently resold, together with Gauguin’s “Bathers”, for a joint price of more than $100 million.
Madame Ginoux was one of van Gogh’s favourite models, and was represented in 6 pictures. Three of them repeats the composition of the Christie’s one, which is the only one that remains in private hands.
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