Vincent Van Gogh portrait purchased online for $2150 USD could be valued in the millions!

By Keith Michaels, August 26, 2011

Who says there are no good art buys out there on the Internet? I think you would have to tell that to Michael and Mandy Cruickshank who purchased what is now believed to be the only full-length portrait of the Dutch master artist Vincent Van Gogh for the equivalent of $2150. US Dollars.

The pastel drawing from the 1890’s found in Versailles, was last seen in public in 1892 and is believed to have been created by an artist who lived next door to Van Gogh in Paris.

The couple who purchased the work became cautiously interested in the drawing and then intrigued because the hat on the figure’s head was crumpled. This was similar to a hat seen on the artist in a self-portrait painted by him in at the height of his career.

Several leading art experts are backing the new owner’s theory. Comparisons have been done with another well-known self-portrait and a photo of Van Gogh from the same period. Identification is hindered a bit as the newly discovered portrait is a pastel drawing, which can be less clear because of the mediums characteristically grainy quality.

The portrait was originally marketed as, “Portrait of a Man”, 1890’s, artist unknown. The work now, entitled, The Misunderstood, by Jeanne Donnadieu is currently on display in the UK, but will soon be on its way to Paris for further authentication. The new owners the Cruickshanks have been contacted by the curator of the Van Gogh Museum in Paris to further discuss whether the full-length portrait is in fact Vincent Van Gogh. 

If the work turns out to be the one, lost, full-length portrait of the great Dutch master, the Internet and sites for online fine art brokers could just turn out to be the new “Attic”/Rummage Sale” for discovering overlooked and missing great works of art.