9 February 2003
TOKYO -- It's a story that fires the imagination and one that, in recent days, has received international media coverage. A "previously unknown" Van Gogh painting--valued just days ago only US$83--sold yesterday at an auction in Tokyo for US$550,000.
The problem, however, is that the whole story is based on a foundation of quicksand.
Two basic facts are irrefutable: Head of a Peasant Woman with White Cap was sold by the Shinwa Art Auction Co. Ltd. in Tokyo yesterday for 66 million yen (US$550,000). The painting was purchased by Toshio Nakamoto for the Wood One Museum of Art in Yoshiwa, Japan. But other than that the rest of the story is riddled with factual errors.
Reuters reported that the Shinwa Art Auction Co. received Head of a Peasant Woman with White Cap from a Japanese collector in a consignment of unremarkable art works. Shinwa subsequently appraised the work at a value of a mere 10,000 yen (US$83). Days later this "unknown" Van Gogh painting was confirmed authentic by the Van Gogh Museum in Amsterdam and a storm of media attention ensued.
The truth, however, is far less titillating. Head of a Peasant Woman with White Cap has, in fact, always been recognized as a Van Gogh painting. Its authenticity has never been challenged and it has appeared in Van Gogh catalogues for more than seventy years. The original Van Gogh catalogue raisonné, compiled by Jacob Baart De la Faille and published in 1928, listed the painting as catalogue number F 131. It also appears in the updated De la Faille catalogue raisonné published in 1970 as well as in both Jan Hulsker's catalogues raisonnés as JH 685 (1980 and 1996). In addition, it is also listed on the CD-ROM Vincent van Gogh: The Complete Works. For seventy-five years the painting's authenticity has never been questioned.
Furthermore, the "unknown" Head of a Peasant Woman with White Cap has been sold to private collectors at auction as a genuine Van Gogh painting at least twice before:
Or was it merely sloppy research?
Whatever the case, the hype surrounding the recent sale of Head of a Peasant Woman with White Cap is unwarranted and an embarrassment for both the Shinwa Art Auction Company as well as the media. Van Gogh works sell at auction all the time (the drawing Pine Trees in Front of the Wall of the Asylum sold in London just three days ago). The sale of Head of a Peasant Woman with White Cap is only newsworthy, ironically, because of the unnecessary media attention it's generated.
Return to main Van Gogh Gallery page