The authenticity of the painting was disputed. The painting of the Dutch masters, long considered a fake, just has to be authenticated by the Van Gogh museum of Amsterdam. The canvas, titled still life with fruit and chestnuts , had been donated to the museum of San Francisco by individuals in 1960. However, this canvas is 27 x 35,6 cm was not included in the catalogue of the works of the artist, a number of experts who doubted its authenticity.
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“At the end of last year, experts from the Amsterdam museum have assigned a table from the collection of the Museum of Fine Arts, San Francisco, to the work of Vincent Van Gogh”, said to AFP Snowy Bollen, a spokesman for the Dutch museum. “There was always the question of whether the painting had been done by Van Gogh or not”, she added.
Two years of investigations, technical and stylistic requirements have allowed the experts from the Van Gogh museum to have the surprise to discover another table in this nature morte: portrait of a woman. “Vincent Van Gogh reused often his paintings because of a lack of money,” explained Snowy Bollen.
A canvas painted in 1886 in Paris
The Fine Arts Museum of San Francisco has not commented on this announcement. On its website, the american museum now presents the painting as having been done by Van Gogh, the artist whose works fly off the auction. According to the Dutch newspaper De Volkskrant, still life with fruit and chestnuts would have been painted in Paris during the autumn of 1886. The table belonged presumably to the mother of the French painter Emile Bernard, a friend of Vincent Van Gogh.
Each year, the Van Gogh museum is invited to examine approximately 200 pieces to determine if they were carried out by Dutch artist or not. In total, 14 achievements have been added to the official list of his works since 1988, including drawings, according to the information of the newspaper De Volkskrant .
Founded in 1973, the Van Gogh museum in Amsterdam houses the largest collection in the world of the works of the master post-impressionist with more than 200 paintings, 500 drawings and nearly 700 hand-written letters.
