New research confirming the painting Moulin d’Alphonse as the work of Van Gogh has led to its exhibition for the first time in 100 years, The Guardian reports.  The piece, identified by a series of small numbers on the back of the work (traced to Van Gogh’s sister in law, Johanna), will be unveiled at TEFAF Maastricht, and is for sale for around $10 million.  “Johanna was left with the life’s work of this artist, her brother-in-law who, in theory, she had mixed emotions about. But she set about trying to build a legacy for him,” says lead researcher and art dealer James Roundell.  “She could have just burned the lot because, at that point, Van Gogh had no real market.” (more…)

A collection of 62 artworks, among them pieces by Van Gogh and Monet, have been donated to the National Gallery of Art from the estate of museum benefactor Paul Mellon, who passed away in 1999.  Of particular note is the Van Gogh piece Still Life of Oranges and Lemons with Blue Gloves, created shortly after the artist cut off his ear, and suffered a break in his friendship with Paul Gauguin.  “It’s this very emotionally wrought period of time,” says curator Kimberly Jones. “I think this still life, of all the still lives, is the most Gauguin-like in terms of the pallete, the symbolism.  I can’t help but wonder, looking at this, if Paul Gauguin’s presence isn’t being very much felt in this painting.” (more…)

The upcoming show on the work of Vincent Van Gogh, held next year at London’s National Gallery, will reunite two of the surviving versions of the artist’s iconic Sunflowers.  Painted in 1888, one of the canvases is on loan from the Van Gogh Museum in Amsterdam, while the other was purchased by the National Gallery in 1924.  “It will deepen every visitor’s appreciation of the artist,” said  Nicholas Penny, director of the National Gallery. (more…)

A recently discovered painting has been confirmed as an authentic Van Gogh, and is set to go on view at the Van Gogh Museum in Amsterdam later this month.  The work, Sunset at Montmajour, was identified as a Van Gogh by the materials and through personal letters, in which the artist describes the work to his brother Theo.  The work had sat in an attic for years, held by a discouraged Norwegian man who had been told the work was not authentic almost twenty years prior.  Researcher Teio Meedendorp commented that he and his fellow researchers “have found answers to all the key questions, which is remarkable for a painting that has been lost for more than 100 years.” (more…)

During research on a book about Van Gogh’s Sunflowers, writer Martin Bailey stumbled across a Parisian newspaper article, detailing the artist’s public severing of his left ear following a row with Gaugin.  The article, which reported the artist merely as “someone named Vincent,” also details Van Gogh’s later arrival at a “house of ill repute,” where he presented the doorman with the piece of his ear.  “Take it, it will be useful.”  The artist told him. (more…)

The Van Gogh Museum in Amsterdam has announced a new line of three-dimensional replicas of some of the artist’s most famous works.  Recreated down to the frame, the replicas are available for £22,000.  “This particular process has been developed with paintings in mind. The work of Van Gogh lends itself particularly well, since the pictures are so rich in surface structure. We have been working with them on the color quality and fine-tuning.”  Says Museum Director Axel Rüger. (more…)

New research into the composition and techniques in the work of Vincent Van Gogh are challenging the perceptions of the artist as a spontaneous, romantic libertine in favor of a portrait of the Dutchman as a skilled and relentlessly committed technician.  Presenting findings at the Van Gogh Museum in Amsterdam, a team of researchers have used new technologies and visualization equipment to analyze and uncover Van Gogh’s skillful approach to composing and arranging his paintings.  “There has never been such extensive research into Van Gogh’s paintings and drawings,” says Nienke Bakker, Van Gogh Museum curator. (more…)

Aspasia Zaimis, niece of Greek Shipping Magnate Basil Goulandris, is pursuing a lawsuit to recover a selection of paintings from her uncle’s estate, including works by Van Gogh, Renoir, and Monet.  Her current investigation has already turned up a long paper trail of documents that have raised suspicions about the ownership of the works, and has also resulted in a criminal investigation of her late aunt Elise Goulandris’s philanthropic organization.  “I am determined to find the paintings which were in the Gstaad home before my aunt’s death,” Zaimis said. “I believe with all my heart that the paintings were part of my inheritance.” (more…)

Vik Muniz, Pictures of Magazine 2 (Installation View), via Galeria Elba Benítez

Currently on view at Galeria Elba Benítez in Madrid, Pictures of Magazine 2 is a solo show for Brazilian artist Vik Muniz.  The works in this exhibition are created using Muniz’s unique collage process, combining magazine images to recreate the works of famous artists, all while incorporating his own artistic bent. He then takes photographs of his finished collages, enlarges them, and prints them to create the finished piece. (more…)

Exiled Philippine dictator Ferdinand Marcos and his wife Imelda acquired many masterpieces, including Picassos and Van Goghs, 146 of which are unaccounted for, according to The Philippine government. Andres Bautista, head of the Presidential Commission on Good Government, told AFP: “The Marcoses were art aficionados and they spent millions of dollars buying up these paintings.” By all estimates the missing paintings are valued at hundreds of millions of dollars. (more…)

The Getty Institute has announced that it will purchase the former Knoedler Gallery’s complete archives. Before the gallery was mired in lawsuits and closed its doors, it was an 165-year old institution whose client roster included Paul Mellon, Henry Clay Frick and Robert Sterling Clark. It exhibited and sold work by van Gogh, Manet, Winslow Homer, Frederic Church, John Singer Sargent, Louise Bourgeois, Willem de Kooning and Barnett Newman, among others. The well-preserved archive includes stock books, sales books, photos and illustrated letters from artists and collectors. (more…)

Although it has long been theorized that Van Gogh may have been colorblind, new evidence has come to light which may confirm this theory. Kazunori Asad, a Japanese scientist, has created an app that helps to simulate what images look like to people with colorblindness and used it to filter Van Gogh’s works, which he claims look better when seen with the filter.

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‪‬X-Ray techniques identify likely Van Gogh painting of wrestlers beneath ‘Still Life with Meadows and Roses,’ which was previously unauthenticated, now hanging at the Kröller-Müller Museum in Otterlo, Netherlands [AO Newslink]

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