The $50 painting sold at Minnesota’s garage sale could be a $15 million Van Gogh original masterpiece

A painting bought for less than $50 at a garage sale in Minnesota might be a lost work by Dutch post-impressionist Vincent van Gogh.

Measuring 45.7 centimeters by 41.9 centimeters (18 inches by 16.5 inches), the painting, dated 1889, is believed to have been created during the artist’s stay at the Saint-Rémy-de-Provence psychiatric hospital in France just months before he took his own life, aged 37.

Van Gogh’s “lost” fisherman painting

The painting depicts a fisherman wearing a hat and smoking a pipe apparently repairing his net on an empty beach. The artists has titled the work, Elimar, inscribed in the bottom right corner.

Determining the authenticity of the painting has been a long and drawn-out process. LMI Group International, a New York-based data science firm specializing in art authentication, assembled a team of 20 experts in chemistry, art history and patent law to validate the artwork.

Scientific analysis revealed encouraging signs - the paint pigments and canvas weave were in line with the kind of materials used during the years Van Gogh was active (1881–1890). The bright red pigment PR-50, which was patented in 1883, helps date the work to the 19th century.

LMI explain that Van Gogh regularly painted “translations” of works by other artists and this one appears to be his take on the work of Danish artist Michael Ancher (1849-1927), who painted several studies of fishermen.

“Van Gogh painting” bought for $50 in Minnesota

The canvas was bought by an unsuspecting antiques collector at a Minnesota garage sale in 2016.

The painting still needs to be formally attributed to Van Gogh by the Van Gogh Museum in Amsterdam. If that happens, it’s value will skyrocket with some estimates gauging its value at a figure around the $15 million mark.

However, the Van Gogh museum has already stated that they don’t think it is authentic. The painting’s previous owner took it to the Dutch capital for evaluation in December 2018 when the center decided against attributing it to the tortured artist.

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