Stolen Art DealerClose view of a flower bed with tall grasses and small flowers, with butterflies among the greenery.
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Catalogue No. 1343 · Christie's · New York
Coin de jardin avec papillons
About $35.6 million in today’s money: 410 years of the typical US household’s income. Source
- Artist
- Vincent van Gogh (Dutch, 1853–1890)
- Title
- Coin de jardin avec papillons
- Date
- 1887
- Medium
- Oil on canvas
- Size
- 50.4 x 61.4 cm (19 3/4 x 24 1/4 in)
Vincent van Gogh's Coin de jardin avec papillons is an oil on canvas of 50.4 by 61.4 centimetres. It shows a small flower bed seen close up, where thick grasses and delicate flowers sway in a summer breeze and butterflies move among the greenery. Christie's dates it to May to July 1887, and says that de la Faille (1970) and Hulsker dated it to 1889.
The picture passed by descent through the artist's family: Theo van Gogh, then Johanna van Gogh-Bonger, then Vincent Willem van Gogh. It later belonged to the Paris dealer Galerie Eugène Druet and to Joseph Reinach, and about 1921 to Lily Reinach-Goujon, by descent. Wildenstein and Company in New York acquired it from the Reinach family in 1987, and the present owner bought it from them in 1998.
Christie's sold it in New York on 16 May 2024, as lot 29B of the 20th Century Evening Sale, against an estimate of $28,000,000 to $35,000,000. The price realised was $33,185,000, reported by ARTnews as $33.2 million, a figure it says includes the buyer's premium.
The sale
- Auction house
- Christie's, New York
- Date
- 16 May 2024
- Lot
- 29B
- Estimate
- $28,000,000–35,000,000
- Sold for
- $33.2 million (including buyer’s premium) · $33,185,000
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Provenance
May–July 1887
Painted by Van Gogh in Paris (Christie's dates it May-July 1887; de la Faille and Hulsker dated it to Arles, 1889)
undated
Theo van Gogh, Paris; Johanna van Gogh-Bonger, Amsterdam (by descent); Vincent Willem van Gogh, Amsterdam (by descent)
undated
Galerie Eugène Druet, Paris
undated
Joseph Reinach, Paris
c. 1921
Lily Reinach-Goujon, Paris (by descent from the above)
1987
Wildenstein & Co. Inc., New York (acquired from the family of the above)
1998
Acquired from the above by the present owner
2024-05-16
Christie's, New York, 20th Century Evening Sale, lot 29B
Sources
- Christie's: Vincent van Gogh, Coin de jardin avec papillons (lot 29B)
- Christie's: lot page with lot number
- ARTnews: Christie's 20th Century Evening Sale Totals $413 M., Led by $33.2 M. Van Gogh
Prices include the buyer’s premium, in US dollars at the time of sale, unless marked as a hammer price.