The watercolor “Meules de blé” by Vincent Van Gogh (1853-1890), confiscated by the Nazi regime during the German occupation in France, set a new world record for a work on paper by the Dutch artist: at the auction of Christie’s in New York the colorful drawing depicting sheaves of wheat, executed in 1888 in Arles, Provence, was sold last night for 35,855,000 dollars (31,340,000 euros) to a buyer in the Rockefeller Center room, who requested to remain anonymous.
The watercolor, which was offered with a starting estimate of $ 20 million, was one of the top lots in the “The Cox Collection: The Story of Impressionism” catalog, which brought one of America’s largest art collections to market. impressionist and post-impressionist. “Meules de blé” was in the private collection of American businessman, collector and philanthropist Edwin L. Cox since 1979, who passed away a year ago on the eve of his 100th birthday. It is back in public after 116 years: the last time it was shown in the historic Van Gogh retrospective of 1905 at the Stedelijk Museum in Amsterdam.
Christie’s has reconstructed the history of this work and at the same time facilitated a settlement agreement between the heirs of Cox and the heir of Max Meirowsky, as well as the heirs of Alexandrine de Rothschild, who were the first owners, illustrating the complexity of the cases of restitution and losses due to Nazi persecution. Executed in the first weeks of June 1888, Vincent van Gogh’s “Meules de blé” is one of the very first in his reference series depicting the wheat harvest. With the image of three stacks of wheat towering over the nearby women, this exquisite work depicts Arles in the middle of the harvest, with a myriad of lines and hatches, strokes and pools of color that convey the atmosphere of that midsummer day with a surprising vitality
The Cox collection sold by the heirs totaled $ 332,031,500 (approximately € 290,000,000). A portion of the proceeds from the sale will benefit educational purposes.