Van Gogh Art Of Two Lovers, Cut Out From Painting, Is Poised To Fetch Millions

Image via WikiArt (public domain)

Almost a metaphor of long-lasting love, a fragment of a couple strolling on a towpath is the only surviving piece of a painting that Vincent van Gogh abandoned in 1888. How the condition of the work is still so well-kept is an enigma, but so is love.

Now, A Pair of Lovers, described by the Art Newspaper’s resident Van Gogh expert Martin Bailey as the “most important” part of the long-gone Van Gogh landscape painting, is due to appear at an auction by Sotheby’s in London on March 2. The piece—measuring just 12¾ x 9-inches—is estimated to go under the hammer for  £7 million to £10 million (US$9.5 million to US$13.5 million).

Past sales by the same auction house saw the section being sold for £280,000 (in 1986), £2.9 million (in 2001), and US$7.1 million in 2013. Sotheby’s says the current seller is a “distinguished private Japanese collector.”

The fragment depicts two lovers walking along the canal between Arles and the Mediterranean, with the woman’s arm warmly wrapped around her partner’s shoulders. Bailey says the hues used here—including the man’s blue jacket and the woman’s headgear, as well as her red dress against the emerald waters—showcase the painter’s penchant for complementary colors.

Image via Sotheby’s

The full, 24 x 29-inch painting would consist of chimneys, church towers, and, most strikingly, the Langlois drawbridge, according to a sketch that Van Gogh had sent to his artist friend Emile Bernard. The painter destroyed the actual artwork because he didn’t like the result.

The only piece Van Gogh kept was this fragment, as the artist intended to repurpose it as a study for another painting.

Bad weather was to blame for the less-satisfactory painting. Van Gogh, who preferred to paint in front of his inspiration, continued the artwork in his studio when the weather deteriorated.

The painter would recreate the scene, sans figures, on a new canvas soon after, this time with a less cheery palette to reflect the different weather.

[via The Art Newspaper and Sotheby’s, images via various sources]