The current bid for "Yellow
Roses" is $2 million.
Is It or
Isn't It?
A Van Gogh Is up for Grabs on the Internet
By Kelly S. Mittleman
PLEASANT RIDGE, MICH. - Is it or isn't it? That's the question
authenticators have attempted to answer for "Yellow Roses," a
painting believed to be by the Post-impressionist Vincent van
Gogh. The work is currently up for sale online at Michigan-based
OldAndSold Antiques Auction (oldandsold.com), and is one the
master himself may have painted in the spring of 1888.
The authentication of a possible Van Gogh is crucial to such a
work's success at auction. Experts use technical analysis to
determine not only whether the painting is of the period its
owner asserts, but also, more importantly, whether it is the work
of the artist himself.
"Yellow Roses" was first acquired by Helen Henderson Chain, a
Denver, Colo. art enthusiast and gallery owner who claimed she
purchased the work on one of her many trips to France for her
business, Chain and Hardy's. She and her husband met tragic
deaths on a passenger ship during a typhoon in the South China
Sea in 1892. A label from the gallery is still present on the
back of the original frame of the painting.
The plot thickens: After Chain's heirs divided up the estate in
1892, Molly Brown (of The Unsinkable Molly
Brown/Titanic fame), at some point, had possession of
the work. It is unclear whether the painting was purchased by
Brown or whether it was intended as a gift to her. In either
case, "Property of Molly Brown" is printed on the back of the
painting's frame.
"Yellow Roses" remained in the Brown family's possession until
1920, when heirs to that estate sold most of the paintings in the
collection.
Now, according to the current owner and consignor, a dedication,
signed "Souvenir de Mauve Vincent and Theo 1888," appears under
x-ray and provides links to the artist's letters. The seller also
provides pigment analysis reports from the Los Angeles County
Museum of Art.
The consignor approached Scott Haskins, the owner of
California-based FACL, Inc., a conservator of fine art, who
tested "Yellow Roses" using a variety of technical methods, such
as x-ray, infrared reflectometry, magnification and solubility.
Such tests are mandated by auction houses to help determine the
authenticity of questionable works and can confirm whether
certain materials were indeed available at the time a painting
was created.
Haskins says that FACL's results offer "interesting and
confirming details" that "Yellow Roses" is truly the work of Van
Gogh, painted in 1888.
Vincent Van Gogh produced some of his most vibrant paintings in
Arles, France, expressing his passion for color. In the past 15
years, Van Gogh's works have commanded astounding prices: $67
million for "Portrait de l'Artiste sans barbe," $53 million for
"Irises," $26 million for "Sous Bois" and $15.4 million for "The
Bridge of Trinquetaille." Which leads to another nagging
question: If this latest find is indeed by Van Gogh, why has it
not been consigned to one of the larger, international auction
houses - e.g. Christie's or Sotheby's - that handled the
aforementioned blockbuster offerings?
The opening bid for Yellow Roses was $2 million dollars and the
auction will close September 29, 2000.
