'New' Van Gogh Painting Identified; Was In A Norwegian Attic
A painting that had earlier been thought to be a fake and had been stored for decades in the attic of a Norwegian home has now been identified as a long-lost work by Vincent Van Gogh.
Sunset at Montmajour has been authenticated thanks to "extensive research into [its] style, technique, paint, canvas, the depiction, Van Gogh's letters and the provenance," Van Gogh Museum Director Axel Ruger says in a statement posted Monday by the Amsterdam museum.
The painting, writes The Associated Press, "depicts a dry landscape of oak trees, bushes and sky, painted with Van Gogh's familiar thick brush strokes. ... Ruger said the museum had itself rejected the painting's authenticity once in the 1990s, in part because it was not signed by the artist."
Among the reasons why researchers now say it's a real Van Gogh, the AP adds, is that "it can be dated to the exact day it was painted because Vincent described it in a letter to his brother, Theo, and said he painted it the previous day — July 4, 1888."
What's more, says The New York Times:
"It was also painted on the same type of canvas, with the same type of underpainting he used for at least one other painting, The Rocks (owned by the Museum of Fine Arts in Houston) of the same area at the same time, according to the museum. The work was also listed as part of Theo van Gogh's collection in 1890, and was sold in 1901."