You Can Now Own Van Gogh’s Painting

Emma Winter

The painting of a Paris street by Vincent Van Gogh is going on display and action for the first time after spending more than 100 years within a French family’s private collection.

Now that a family’s private collection is being unveiled in the public, an auction for the Van Gogh painting is quickly arising.

“Street scene in Montmartre” was painted in the spring of 1887, three years before the Dutch master is believed to have died by suicide. It is one of a series of works Van Gogh created while lodging with his brother Theo and a short distance from the street depicted in the painting. It is part of a series of works representing the famed Moulin de la Galette, a windmill turned into a dance hall in Montmartre. However, the district is still popular among tourists and locals for its village feel, so the surrounding streets currently bear little resemblance to the scene in the painting.

Soon, the painting will be auctioned by Sotheby’s in Paris on March 25, but until then it will be publicly displayed in Amsterdam and Hong Kong before making its way to France. It is expected to fetch between 5 million euros and 8 million euros ($6 million and $9.7 million) when the auction house becomes alive in the upcoming weeks.