February 25, 2021 

Vincent van Gogh, Scène de rue à Montmartre (Impasse des deux frères et le Moulin à Poivre), (1887).  Courtesy of Sotheby's/ ArtDigital Studio 

A major Paris work by Vincent van Gogh that has been part of the same French family’s private collection for more than a century is to go on public display for the first time since it was painted in the spring of 1887. The painting, Impasse des Deux Frères et le Moulin à Poivre (Street scene in Montmartre), has been in private hands since its creation in the spring of 1887, according to auction house Mirabaud Mercier. The painting depicts a man and woman, strolling arm in arm past a ramshackle fence with a windmill in the background. The Paris-based company is joining with Sotheby's to sell the painting in a March 25 auction of impressionist and modern art in Paris. Sotheby's estimates it could fetch up to eight million euros (£6.9m) when it is sold at auction next month.

The painting has never been publicly exhibited, though it has been well documented and has appeared in seven catalogues over the years. Van Gogh painted the work in the spring of 1887, during a two-year sojourn in Paris, when he was living with his brother Theo on the Rue Lepic. Montmartre was still semi-rural when the scene was painted. A windmill features prominently behind some perambulating locals. The famous Sacré-Cœur church that now dominates the area was under construction at the time. The artist was fascinated by the mix of pastoral and urban elements then in Montmartre, where the “mills blended with the cabarets,” according to a statement from Sotheby’s. The work reflects Van Gogh’s exploration of a new city as well as his first encounter with the Impressionists and other avant-garde painters in Paris, which in turn sparked a transformation of his palette.

Aurélie Vandevoorde and Etienne Hellman, senior directors of the Impressionist and Modern Art department at Sotheby's France, said it's rare for an artwork from this period to have been maintained by the same family and kept private for so long. They said, "The presentation on the market of a painting from this iconic series will therefore undoubtedly be a major event for Van Gogh collectors and for the art market in general."

In 2019, Sotheby’s sold a Parisian-themed work by Van Gogh, People Strolling in a Park in Paris, for $9. 7 million in New York, while another work from 1882, during the artist’s “Dutch” period, brought in €7 million in France.

Van Gogh arrived in Paris in 1886. He left the city in 1888, saying he had tired of the hectic pace of Paris life. He moved to the south of France, where he cut off part of his ear during an episode of mental illness. The artist later shot himself and died near Paris on July 29, 1890.