Two Van Gogh’s auctioned “in secret” at East Flemish auction house

Two works by the Dutch artist Vincent Van Gogh go under the hammer at an aution house in Ooastakker, near Ghent on Sunday afternoon. The auction has been kept very hush hush as the vendor wants the paintings to remain in Belgium. The combined value of the paintings is an estimated 350,000 euro.

  

Sunday is probably the biggest day thus far in the career of auctioneer Johan Kiggen as he will be selling two works painted by a then young Dutch artist Vincent Van Gogh. Mr Kiggen told VRT Radio 2 East Flanders that “This is a high point of my life”

A watercolour painting of some flowers and a charcoal sketch of a vase are going under the hammer. Their total value is estimated to be around 350,000 euro.   

“Bidding for the vase will start at 150,000 euro and the flowers are expected to fetch at least 200,000 euro”, Mr Kiggen said.

“I am not an expert, just the person conducting the auction so I can say anything about the authenticity of the works myself. However, they appear in books, experts have looked at them and we have done months of research so it ought to be pretty certain that they are real Van Gogh’s”, the auctioneer added.   

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