Hundreds of visitors flocked on Tuesday to an exhibition in Hong Kong to see a painting by Dutch artist Vincent van Gogh, shown to the public for the first time in 60 years ahead of its expected sale at auction in New York. The painting, titled “Flowering Chestnut Trees” (Châtaigniers en fleurs), is due to be offered for sale by Sotheby’s on 18 November.
Record price expected for Van Gogh painting
The auction house expects the artwork to fetch 180 million dollars. The painting depicts a group of flowering chestnut trees, as a lone man walks past and three women stand beneath them. Van Gogh completed the work in 1890, during the final two months of his life, making it one of the Dutch artist’s last works and one of the most expressive of the final stage of his artistic career.
The painting is part of a collection of 12 artworks once owned by the late Argentine art collectors Nelly Arrieta de Blaquier and Carlos Pedro Blaquier.
All the works are due to be offered at auction. The collection also includes paintings by leading artists Claude Monet, Camille Pissarro and Paul Cézanne.
