A rare early work by Vincent van Gogh has sold for several million euros at an art fair in the Netherlands, its previous owner has said, AFP reported.
Van Gogh's painting, "Tete de paysanne a la coiffe blanche," was sold at the annual European Art Fair in Maastricht for 4.5 million euros. "The painting was sold to a museum outside the European Union," said Bill Rau, president of the M.S. Rau, who has put the painting up for sale.
"We cannot discuss the price," Rau said in an email. But the Dutch national news agency ANP said the asking price "corresponds to the sale price."
Although the name of the private museum was not given, "it will be accessible to the public".
Van Gogh painted the work around 1884 while living with his parents in the southern Dutch town of Nuenen, a year before he completed his other famous work of the period, The Potato Eaters. Visitors to the fair, known as TEFAF, can admire a treasure trove of paintings, sculptures and jewellery - all on sale until March 14.
Van Gogh's "Tete de paysanne a la coiffe blanche" and Wassily Kandinsky's "Murnau mit Kirche II" are the undisputed stars of the show, among the many works for sale that include names like Manet, Rubens and Rodin. Painted in 1910, Kandinsky's masterpiece was sold by Sotheby's in London last year for a record $45 million. Art dealer Robert Landau bought the painting at auction, making it the most expensive Kandinsky painting ever sold.
Landau did not want to disclose the sale price, but said the painting was recently valued at "100 million euros."
"But I have nothing to say about the price. The world knows what we paid for it and we will only sell it to someone we like and who will keep it in a nice place," Landau said before the official opening of the fair. /BGNES
