- Title: NETHERLANDS: Experts authenticate Van Gogh windmill painting
- Date: 25th February 2010
- Summary: ZWOLLE, THE NETHERLANDS (FEBRUARY 25, 2010) (REUTERS) EXTERIOR OF BUILDING OF THE ART MUSEUM IN ZWOLLE VISITORS AT THE ENTRANCE MUSEUM EXTERIOR SIGN INSIDE MUSEUM READING: "VINCENT VAN GOGH" PEOPLE LOOKING AT PAINTINGS VARIOUS OF PAINTING "LA BLUTE-FIN MILL" ON DISPLAY (SOUNDBITE) (English)MUSEUM DE FUNDATIE DIRECTOR, RALPH KEUNING SAYING: "Me and my staff, we looked at the contents of our storeroom and we found this painting and we liked it, we saw quality in it and we decided to give it for research in the Van Gogh museum." WOMAN LOOKING AT PAINTING VARIOUS OF "LA BLUTE-FIN MILL"PAINTING (SOUNDBITE) (English)VAN GOGH EXPERT, LUIS VAN TILBORGH SAYING: "We looked at the picture very carefully, so that meant technically, stylistically, what do we know about the provenience, what do we know about the motive, what do we know about canvas itself, what do we know about the technical build-up of the work, and that meant at the end that we could decide that it is indeed by Van Gogh." MORE OF "LA BLUTE-FIN MILL" PEOPLE LOOKING AT PAINTING
- Embargoed: 12th March 2010 12:00
- Keywords:
- Location: Netherlands
- Country: Netherlands
- Reuters ID: LVA5GS7R8JPGARTB75LTFSH4DR19
- Story Text: Forgotten for 25 years in the museum depot, a painting of a windmill is confirmed as a Van Gogh.
A painting of a windmill newly attributed to the Dutch master Vincent Van Gogh went on display on Wednesday (February 24) after spending decades in the depot of a Dutch provincial museum.
Ralph Keuning, director of the Fundatie museum said he had discovered the painting in 2007.
"Me and my staff, we looked at the contents of our storeroom and we found this painting and we liked it, we saw quality in it and we decided to give it for research in the Van Gogh museum," Keuning said.
After experts at Amsterdam's Van Gogh Museum concluded "Le Blute-fin Mill" was by the Dutch artist, the brightly-coloured painting depicting large human figures around a mill was put on display in the Museum de Fundatie in Zwolle.
"We looked at the picture very carefully, so that meant technically, stylistically, what do we know about the provenience, what do we know about the motive, what do we know about canvas itself, what do we know about the technical build-up of the work, and that meant at the end that we could decide that it is indeed by Van Gogh," Van Gogh expert, Luis Van Tilborgh said.
The painting, which experts say dates from 1886, was bought 35 years ago by Dirk Hannema, the founder of the museum, known as an experienced art collector but jeered at after he wrongly attributed a painting to the Dutch painter Vermeer in the 1930s.
Hannema displayed the picture in his own house until he died in 1984, when it disappeared in the museum depot, only to resurface shortly in 1993 and in 2007. The art collector claimed he owned three more Van Gogh paintings, but Keuning said no prove was found to support that. - Copyright Holder: REUTERS
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