Famed Dutch painter Vincent Van Gogh admitted himself to a psychiatric asylum in Southern France in 1889 and the one year he spent there turned out to be the artist’s most prolific period. He created around 150 paintings during that time and now a group of experts believe they have discovered one of those paintings that was previously unknown to the public.
Back in 2019, an art research firm LMI Group International acquired a painting showing a portrait of a fisherman with a thick white beard repairing a net. It was originally discovered by an art collector, who paid $50 for it at a garage sale in Minnesota. After years of research, LMI Group International came to conclusion that the portrait is an original Van Gogh and could be worth $15 million.
In a report recently shared with the public, the experts from LMI Group International said the portrait is part of Van Gogh’s “translation” series. The artist had a habit of recreating works from other artists but instead of trying to copy them directly, he was doing his own interpretation of them. The portrait in question is believed to be a “translation” of Michael Peter Ancher’s “Fisherman Niels Gaihede Repairing a Fishing Net.”
The presumed Van Gogh painting has an inscription “ELIMAR” in the lower right corner. During their research, LMI Group International found that Elimar is a character in the novel Two Baronesses by Hans Christian Andersen, one of Van Gogh’s favorite authors.
LMI Group International announced that it will soon make the painting available for Van Gogh scholars. This will kick off the most important step in the process considering they will have to get approval from a large number of art experts to complete the authentication process.
“People love it when things fall through the cracks, and it would be wonderful if they found a Van Gogh—but they’ve got to pin everything down and get a scholar at the Van Gogh Museum to sign off on it,” art authenticator Richard Polsky told The Wall Street Journal.