On February 1 2021, an exemplary painting by Vincent Willem Van Gogh went on auction at Christie&rsquos as a part of "A Family Collection Works on Paper, Van Gogh to Freud.&rdquo The iconic piece of art, &lsquoLa Mousmé&rsquo is expected to be sold between $7 million to $10 million at Christie&rsquos Auction in New York.
Previously, at Christie&rsquos one of his contemporary work, &lsquoSummer Evening, Wheatfield with Setting sun&rsquo had fetched $8.36 million in 1990. In the current scenario, &lsquoLa Mousmé&rsquo is anticipated to be one of Van Gogh&rsquos most expensive artworks fetching a seven-figure amount at the auction, which will be live-streamed on March 1 from New York.
It is believed that in 1888 while living in Arles, Van Gogh made this portrait of a young girl from Provençale. According to the National Gallery of Art, DC, the Dutch artist was inspired to create the portrait from Impressionism and Post-Impressionism era.
Reportedly, the painting was made between July 31 to August 3, 1888, and it was a part of portrait studies.
As per the overview provided by the National Gallery of Art, Van Gogh&rsquos source of inspiration was a literary work, a novel, which was famous at the time where a French man had an affair with a Japanese girl.
After the completion of the portrait, Van Gogh wrote to his brother, saying, &ldquoif you know what a 'Mousmé' is (you will know when you have read Loti's Madame Chrysanthème), I have just painted one. It took me a whole week, but I had to reserve my mental energy to do the Mousmé well."
According to experts, Gogh tried to represent an amalgamation of both cultures, through his exceptional detailing. Bold colours like red and brown were used to create the portrait with the help of various tools like pen, ink, and pencil.