A painting attributed to Vincent van Gogh, discovered earlier this year and given to the Van Gogh Huis in Drenthe, appears not to have been made by the world-famous painter after all.
Translation by Hans de Preter
The painting, “Cafe Interior”, which was painted in the same colour scheme and brush stroke style as the famed Dutch artist Vincent van Gogh, included a signature with the name “Vincent”. The piece was found in an inheritance of a 92-year-old woman from The Hague, and RTV Drenthe reports that the painting was given to the Van Gogh Huis in Nieuw-Amsterdam in Drenthe earlier this year.
The small museum had the painting evaluated to determine its authenticity by the research department of the Van Gogh Museum in Amsterdam, which ultimately concluded that “Café Interior” was not a genuine Van Gogh painting.
Despite the disappointing outcome, the work will still have a place in the museum. Gerrit Lambers, the chair of the Van Gogh Huis, told RTV Drenthe, “The visitor is taken into the search to confirm the authenticity of a painting by one of the greatest Dutch painters.”
While Van Gogh is best known for his paintings created while living in France and elsewhere in the Netherlands, the world famous artist also painted in Drenthe for several months in 1883. He depicted what he saw in the provincial towns of Hollandscheveld, Nieuw-Amsterdam, Aalden and Hoogeveen: men and women doing back-breaking work in peat bogs, fields and canals. According to letters sent to his beloved brother Theo, Vincent decided once and for all to become a painter during his time in Drenthe.
