VanGogh

Discredited Art Collector's Treasure A Van Gogh After All

Filed under: Art

It's no Starry Night but "Le Blute-fin Mill" is a Van Gogh after all. Experts have said that the painting of windmills and people against a pale sky is by the Dutch artist. The painting doesn't immediately strike the eye as a Van Gogh, but experts at Amsterdam's Van Gogh Museum have verified that it dates back to 1886.

"Le Blute-Fin Mill", was put on display in the Museum de Fundatie in Zwolle, Amsterdam. It was bought 35 years ago by Dirk Hannema, the founder of the museum, who kept the painting in his own home until he died in 1984. The painting then made its way to the museum but was only displayed a couple of times. Hannema paid around $2,700 for the painting in Paris and was certain that it was an original. His words went unheeded because he had been discredited years before when he bought a Vermeer (one of the works of forger Han van Meegeren) and made it a star exhibit. Hannema had a preferences for seeking out the works of masters that were yet to be attributed to them, the problem was that he was not always right and his eagerness made him an easy target for an enterprising forger (for a riveting read on van Meegeren, check out The Forger's Spell).

The museum had tried back in 1993 to have the windmill painting authenticated but at that point the experts weren't available. Its is believed that Van Gogh painted the work in Paris, the canvas bears the stamp of an art store that he was known to buy materials and pigments from, according to an AP interview with Louis van Tilborgh, curator of research at the Van Gogh Museum in Amsterdam.

Gallery: The Brief And Prolific Life Of Vincent Van Gogh

Tags: amsterdam, art, dirk hannema, DirkHannema, van gogh, VanGogh

Yale Sued by Former Van Gogh Owner

by Tom Johansmeyer (RSS feed) —

Filed under: Art

Pierre Konowaloff believes that Van Gogh's painting, "The Night Café," was stolen from his great-grandfather during the Communist takeover of Russia. Now, it belongs to Yale University, and he wants it back.

According to this claim, Ivan Morozov acquired the painting in 1908 and owned it until the Russian government snatched it in the 1918 "change" to Communism. What was Morozov's, it seems, became Lenin's. Then, it passed through galleries in Europe and New York until it was eventually left to Yale by a collector in 1961.

The hook, for Konowaloff, is that Yale took the painting "with reason to know that it had been unlawfully confiscated or 'nationalized' without compensation," according to a report in Bloomberg.

This isn't the only claim that Yale is facing. The university also has to contend with a suit by the Republic of Peru, which wants to reclaim artifacts excavated from Machu Picchu.

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Tags: art, artist, artwork, communism, communist, communist party, CommunistParty, communists, machu picchu, MachuPicchu, russia, scandal, scandals, van gogh, VanGogh, vincent van gogh, VincentVanGogh, yale, yale university, YaleUniversity

Van Gogh Painting is a Fake

by Sandy Maple (RSS feed) —

Filed under: Art

When Rupert Murdoch's father, Keith Murdoch, staged a contemporary art exhibit in Australia in 1939, Vincent Van Gogh's "Head of a Man" was on display. It was later purchased by Australia's National Gallery of Victoria for $3,500 and has been a part of their collection ever since. However, last August, when the painting was shown at the Dean Gallery in Edinburgh, Scotland, critics noticed something wasn't right. The work, dated 1886, appeared to be of a different style than other Van Gogh paintings during the same period. What's more, the painting was never mentioned in the artist's letters.

"Head of a Man" was then sent to the Van Gogh Museum in Amsterdam where experts have now declared it to be a fake. Gerard Vaughan, director of the National Gallery of Victoria, says the painting was most likely the work of a Van Gogh contemporary and makes clear that the painting was simply misattributed, not a deliberate forgery. Had the painting been authentic, it would have been valued at around $21 million.

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Tags: art, australia national gallery of victoria, AustraliaNationalGalleryOfVictoria, dean gallery, DeanGallery, fake, forgery, head of a man, HeadOfAMan, painting, rupert murdoch, RupertMurdoch, van gogh, VanGogh, vincent van gogh, VincentVanGogh

Vodka Goes Acai

by Deidre Woollard (RSS feed) —

Filed under: Spirits

Have you tried acai? The acai fruit has hit the U.S. in a big way lately popping up in fruit smoothies and all sorts healthy drinks. The berry is considered a superfood. It grows atop trees in the Amazon rainforest and is very popular in Brazil. Now it gets it first vodka flavor following its fellow it fruit, the popular pomegranate. The latest flavor from the flavor-crazy Van Gogh vodka line is Acai-Blueberry. The overall flavor is blueberry with the acai following in on the finish giving it an exotic berry favor. The purple bottle is decorated with a Vincent Van Gogh-inspired depiction of a rain forest. The 70-proof vodka retails for about $25 per 750-liter bottle.

[via Avenue Vine]

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Tags: acai, blueberry, liquor, van gogh, VanGogh, vodka