{"id":47642,"date":"2025-09-27T22:57:12","date_gmt":"2025-09-27T22:57:12","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/47642\/"},"modified":"2025-09-27T22:57:12","modified_gmt":"2025-09-27T22:57:12","slug":"the-story-behind-the-van-gogh-still-life-that-looks-destined-to-become-his-most-expensive-paris-painting-the-art-newspaper","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/47642\/","title":{"rendered":"The story behind the Van Gogh still life that looks destined to become his most expensive Paris painting – The Art Newspaper"},"content":{"rendered":"

Van Gogh\u2019s Parisian Novels will be the leading lot in the Pritzker sale<\/a> at Sotheby\u2019s, New York on 20 November. Estimated at $40m, it is likely to achieve the highest price for a painting from the artist\u2019s Paris period. The present record is $33.2m for Corner of a Garden with Butterflies (May-July 1887), which sold at Christie\u2019s<\/a> last year.<\/p>\n

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Van Gogh\u2019s Parisian Novels in the library of the Chicago apartment of the Pritzkers<\/p>\n

Sotheby\u2019s<\/p>\n

The Van Gogh still life has been consigned by the estate of Cindy Pritzker, who died in March, aged 101. Her late husband, Jay Pritzker, built up the Hyatt Hotels chain and died in 1999. Cindy, who was president of the Chicago Public Library board, had a passion for literature. This added to her enthusiasm for Parisian Novels, which depicts 22 books casually strewn across a table, along with a glass with three pink roses.\u00a0The couple hung their Van Gogh in the library of their Chicago apartment.<\/p>\n

Sotheby\u2019s is to auction Parisian Novels along with 36 other Pritzker works on 20 November. The others, estimated at $120m, include paintings by Paul Gauguin and Henri Matisse.<\/p>\n

Parisian Novels (November-December 1887) was painted when Vincent was living with his brother Theo in the French capital. The striped wallpaper on the left of the composition, and the apparent chair-back and door on the right, suggests a room. Similar wallpaper appears in two other still lifes (one of a basket of lemons and the other of a pot of garlic chives), so the setting is most likely a particular room\u2014presumably in Theo\u2019s apartment in Rue Lepic.<\/p>\n

Most of the books have yellow covers, suggesting that they are modern novels published by Charpentier in Paris (an 1888 exhibition review mentioned the painting, but with the title Volumes Charpentier). Van Gogh was a voracious reader, particularly enjoying the fiction of Emile Zola and the Goncourt brothers, both of whom were published by Charpentier.<\/p>\n

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Emile Zola\u2019s L\u2019Oeuvre, published by Georges Charpentier (1886), with its yellow cover. Van Gogh described being left \u201ctouched\u201d by the novel, which is about an artist <\/p>\n

The book-laden table with one open volume and the room setting suggests the presence of a reader, presumably the artist himself. Van Gogh saw little distinction between artists and writers, believing that one could convey emotions either through paint or words.<\/p>\n

Shortly before painting Parisian Novels, Van Gogh made a preparatory picture, a smaller and simpler composition than the Pritzker work. This earlier piece, titled Piles of French Novels<\/a>, is now at the Van Gogh Museum in Amsterdam.<\/p>\n

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Van Gogh\u2019s Piles of French Novels (October-November 1887)<\/p>\n

Van Gogh Museum, Amsterdam (Vincent van Gogh Foundation)<\/p>\n

The Scottish artist Archibald Hartrick, a friend of Van Gogh\u2019s in Paris, recalled seeing Parisian Novels on an easel in Theo\u2019s apartment, when the paint was probably still wet. Hartrick later described it as \u201cthe first of a series of yellow pictures\u201d; he was presumably thinking of the Sunflowers<\/a> (August 1888).<\/p>\n

Parisian Novels was among the three paintings which were the first to be publicly exhibited during Van Gogh\u2019s lifetime, at the Soci\u00e9t\u00e9 des Artistes Ind\u00e9pendants in March 1888. As Vincent told Theo: \u201cI think it\u2019s a very good idea that you put the books in the Ind\u00e9pendants too. This [oil] study should be given the title: \u2018Parisian novels\u2019.\u201d It failed to sell.<\/p>\n

A few years after Van Gogh\u2019s death Parisian Novels was bought by the Italian artist Antonio Mancini. It then passed to a Swiss collection and was eventually sold at Christie\u2019s in 1988, when it fetched just over \u00a37m, a substantial sum at that time. The painting was acquired by Robert Holmes \u00e0 Court, a South African-born Australian property developer.\u00a0<\/p>\n

The Pritzkers bought Parisian Novels in 1994. They subsequently lent it to two Van Gogh exhibitions, at London\u2019s Royal Academy of Arts (2010) and the Art Institute of Chicago (2016). Cindy was a major supporter of the Chicago gallery, funding its Pritzker Wing in 2009.<\/p>\n

With an estimate of $40m, Parisian Novels might now just make it into the top ten<\/a> most expensive Van Goghs sold at auction (until now all these have been post-Paris works, which are most sought after). To reach these dizzy heights, it would need to reach $52m, to beat Fields near Les Alpilles (November 1889).<\/p>\n

Before the November New York auction, Parisian Novels will be shown in Abu Dhabi, at the Bassam Freiha Art Foundation (1-2 October), and then at Sotheby\u2019s in London (9-16 October), Paris (20-24 October) and New York (8-20 November).<\/p>\n

A garden sketch not seen for a century\"\"<\/p>\n

Van Gogh\u2019s Public Garden with Benches (April 1888)<\/p>\n

Photo: Sotheby\u2019s<\/p>\n

Along with the Van Gogh painting, the Pritzkers also owned a drawing, Public Garden with Benches (April 1888), which they bought in 1979. It is also coming up in the Sotheby\u2019s sale, estimated at $2.5m-$3.5m.<\/p>\n

The sketch shows the public garden in Place Lamartine, just outside the Yellow House in Arles. The house was Van Gogh\u2019s home from September 1888 to March 1889, his fellow artist Paul Gauguin staying with him there for two months .<\/p>\n

Public Garden with Benches was sent to Theo, probably on the very day that Van Gogh signed the lease for the Yellow House, on 1 May 1888. Devoid of people, the sketch includes four benches, but is dominated by the trees and bushes.\u00a0<\/p>\n

It is tempting to think that the lower building just visible in the background might represent the Yellow House (if so, the smoking chimney would be on a taller building just beyond). Four days after taking on the lease Vincent wrote with excitement to Theo: \u201cThe delightful thing about this studio is the gardens opposite.\u201d<\/p>\n

When Public Garden with Benches goes on display at Sotheby\u2019s in New York, it will be the first time it has been exhibited since 1910. The drawing is being reproduced here in colour for the first time.<\/p>\n

Martin Bailey is a leading Van Gogh specialist and special correspondent for The Art Newspaper. He has curated exhibitions at the Barbican Art Gallery, Compton Verney\/National Gallery of Scotland and Tate Britain.<\/p>\n

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Martin Bailey\u2019s recent Van Gogh books<\/p>\n

Martin has written a number of bestselling books on Van Gogh\u2019s years in France: The Sunflowers Are Mine: The Story of Van Gogh’s Masterpiece (Frances Lincoln 2013, UK<\/a> and US<\/a>), Studio of the South: Van Gogh in Provence (Frances Lincoln 2016, UK<\/a> and US<\/a>), Starry Night: Van Gogh at the Asylum (White Lion Publishing 2018, UK<\/a> and US<\/a>) and Van Gogh\u2019s Finale: Auvers and the Artist\u2019s Rise to Fame (Frances Lincoln 2021, UK<\/a> and US<\/a>). The Sunflowers are Mine (2024, UK<\/a> and US<\/a>) and Van Gogh\u2019s Finale (2024, UK<\/a> and US<\/a>) are also now available in a more compact paperback format.<\/p>\n

His other recent books include Living with Vincent van Gogh: The Homes & Landscapes that shaped the Artist (White Lion Publishing 2019, UK<\/a> and US<\/a>), which provides an overview of the artist\u2019s life. The Illustrated Provence Letters of Van Gogh has been reissued (Batsford 2021, UK<\/a> and US<\/a>). My Friend Van Gogh\/Emile Bernard provides the first English translation of Bernard\u2019s writings on Van Gogh (David Zwirner Books 2023, UK<\/a>and US<\/a>).<\/p>\n

To contact Martin Bailey, please email vangogh@theartnewspaper.com<\/a><\/p>\n

Please note that he does not undertake authentications.<\/p>\n

Explore all of Martin\u2019s adventures with Van Gogh here<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Van Gogh\u2019s Parisian Novels will be the leading lot in the Pritzker sale at Sotheby\u2019s, New York on…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":47643,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[31],"tags":[16161,34873,307,304,305,306,26364,308,93,61,60,1838,34872,34871],"class_list":{"0":"post-47642","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-arts-and-design","8":"tag-adventures-with-van-gogh","9":"tag-arles","10":"tag-arts","11":"tag-arts-and-design","12":"tag-artsanddesign","13":"tag-artsdesign","14":"tag-auctions","15":"tag-design","16":"tag-entertainment","17":"tag-ie","18":"tag-ireland","19":"tag-paris","20":"tag-paul-gauguin","21":"tag-vincent-van-gogh"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/47642","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=47642"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/47642\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/47643"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=47642"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=47642"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=47642"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}