Feb 2, 2006 7:43 am US/Pacific
Christie's To Auction Van Gogh Masterpiece
NEW YORK (AP) ―
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"L'Arlisienne, Madame Ginoux" painting by Vincent Van Gogh
AP
A major portrait by Vincent van Gogh that has been owned by the same family since 1929 will be sold in May, Christie's auction house announced Wednesday.
Although the presale estimate for "L'Arlesienne, Madame Ginoux" is $40 million, Guy Bennett, head of impressionist and modern art for Christie's New York, said the work is "very similar in composition and application" to van Gogh's "Portrait of Dr. Gachet," which Christie's sold in 1990 for $82.5 million.
Van Gogh executed the portrait of Marie Ginoux, a cafe owner in Arles, the city in the south of France where van Gogh set up a studio, in February 1890. It was one of five portraits he painted of the same subject. One was destroyed and three are in museums.
The portrait that will be auctioned on May 2 as part of Christie's sale of impressionist and modern art was bought in 1929 by Harry Bakwin, a wealthy American pediatrician, and is being sold by his family.
In the painting, Ginoux fixes a penetrating gaze on the viewer while resting her elbow on a table. Before her are two books, French translations of Charles Dickens' Christmas stories and Harriet Beecher Stowe's "Uncle Tom's Cabin."
"It is a truly majestic portrait," Bennett said.
The painting will be exhibited at Christie's Rockefeller Center galleries from April 28 to May 2.
(© 2006 The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.)
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