Vincent faux Gogh.
An oil canvas painting believed to have been created by artist Vincent van Gogh and was purchased at a garage sale for $50 while later valued at $15 million may be a fake, according to a new analysis.
The Van Gogh Museum in Amsterdam determined that “Elimar,” the oil on canvas depicting a fisherman smoking a pipe, painted around 1889, was not an original piece of work by the Dutch painter.
“We have considered the new information mentioned in the LMI Group’s ‘Elimar’ report. Based on our previous opinion on the painting in 2019, we maintain our view that this is not an authentic painting by Vincent van Gogh,” the museum told the Minnesota Star Tribune.
The museum, the leading expert and final decision-maker in authenticating all van Gogh work, was initially alerted to the painting in 2018.
At the time, the former owner had rediscovered it in a Minnesota garage and sent an inquiry about its origin.
“We have carefully examined the material you supplied to us and are of the opinion, based on stylistic features, that your work cannot be attributed to Vincent van Gogh,” the museum wrote in a letter dated Feb. 1, 2019.
The LMI Group, a team of art authenticators based in New York, was then notified about the artwork and began a years-long report to prove its authenticity.
The “orphaned artwork” was examined by the 20-person team who completed an in-depth analysis of the painting compared to known works of van Gogh, including brush styles, canvas size, stroke curves and shadowing of facial features including the ears and noses.
LMI Group had dished out $30,000 for the study.
No signature was found on the piece, but the lettering “ELIMAR” was spotted in the lower right corner.
The experts compared the writing style to words van Gogh is known to have used
“One striking similarity to our subject work is the brown and red paint often used on van Gogh’s signatures or inscriptions on his oil paintings,” the group wrote.
An embedded human hair was also found in the paint during the analysis.
DNA was pulled from the “red in color” strand and verified it belonged to a “human male,” the 458-page report noted.
The analysis was considered “inconclusive” in pinpointing a single person because of the passage of time.
The group argues that “Elimar” is a van Gogh original that just hadn’t been documented before its discovery.
“Any of the foregoing reasons could apply to ‘Elimar’ as a previously undocumented authentic work by van Gogh. It is also highly conceivable that numerous undiscovered works by van Gogh will still emerge,” the report concluded.
Van Gogh, who died from a self-inflicted gunshot in July 1890, is credited with producing over 900 paintings and 1,100 works on paper, according to the Metropolitan Museum of Art, which houses several pieces of his art.
