Previously Unknown Van Gogh Painting Sold at Garage Sale for $50: Experts Value It at $15 Million

A newly discovered Vincent van Gogh painting worth perhaps $15 million may have turned up at a Minnesota garage sale. A team of New York experts says the buyer paid less than $50 for the world-famous artist's work, writes New York Post.

Photo: Peter Hoeks | Dreamstime.com

A previously unknown oil portrait depicts a fisherman smoking a pipe. It was created in 1889, the same year Van Gogh painted his masterpiece, The Starry Night, in a mental hospital in southern France.

The impressionist painting was purchased at a Minnesota garage sale a few years ago by an anonymous antiques collector for less than $50. However, about 20 experts estimate that the painting is worth $15 million.

On the subject: How to make a good purchase at the garage sales

"I was amazed by what I saw," said Maxwell Anderson, a former curator at the Metropolitan Museum of Art.

He noted that the facial wrinkles on the fisherman's face are characteristic of Van Gogh's style, and a red hair was found in the paint - this was the color of the late artist's hair.

To determine the authenticity of the work, Anderson teamed up with a group of restorers, scholars and historians who now believe that the painting is indeed by the Master.

Experts compared the red pigment in the painting to a brand of paint used in the south of France in the late 19th century.

The painting depicts a white-bearded fisherman mending his net on a deserted beach. In the lower right corner is written Elimar — likely, as the publication notes, the name of the man depicted.

“This moving image embodies a recurring theme of redemption in Van Gogh’s work,” Anderson said in a statement. “Through Elimar, Van Gogh creates a kind of spiritual self-portrait, allowing viewers to see the artist as he wanted to be remembered.”

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Before a painting can be officially declared authentic, it must be approved by the Van Gogh Museum in Amsterdam.

To determine the work's authenticity, a team of about 20 experts, including specialists in chemistry, art and patent law, joined forces at the New York-based research firm LMI Group, which acquired the painting from an anonymous antiques collector in 2019.

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