One of Van Gogh’s first paintings sold for several million euros at an art fair in the Netherlands

Van Gogh’s painting “Head of a Peasant Woman with a White Headdress”, dated 1885, “was sold to a museum outside the European Union”, said Bill Rau, president of MS Galerie Rau, one of the largest and most famous galleries in the United States, based in New Orleans, which put the painting up for sale on Sunday March 10. The auction took place during a prestigious art fair in the Netherlands, the TEFAF (The European Fine Art Fair), a veritable treasure trove located in Maastricht, in the south of the country.

“We can’t talk about the price,” said Bill Rau in an email to AFP. According to the Dutch national news agency ANP, the purchase price “was equal” to the amount of the starting price. Table “will be accessible to the public”, said the ANP without giving the name of the museum.

Van Gogh created this painting while living with his parents in the town of Nuenen in the south of the Netherlands. In 1885, he painted his famous painting “The Potato Eaters” in the same place. Visitors to TEFAF will be able to marvel at paintings, sculptures and jewelry until Thursday.

Van Gogh and Kandinsky, two particularly popular sales

Manet, Rubens and Rodin are among the many pieces on display, all of which will be on sale, but the two undeniable stars of the fair will have been Van Gogh’s “Head of a Peasant Girl with a White Headdress” and “Murnau mit Kirche II” by Kandinsky.

Painted in 1910, Kandinsky’s masterpiece was sold last year by Sotheby’s in London for the record sum of $45 million. Art dealer Robert Landau who bought the painting did not wish to disclose the sale price but told AFP that the work had recently been valued at “100 million euros”. “The world knows what we paid for it and we will only sell it to someone we love who will keep it somewhere nice,” said Robert Landau before the official opening of the fair.