For the past 34 years, one of Vincent van Gogh’s most famous paintings, Portrait of Dr. Gachet (1890), has remained largely unseen, despite setting an auction record at Christie’s for $82.5 million in May 1990. Painted just weeks before Van Gogh’s death, the portrait was displayed at the Städel Museum in Frankfurt and the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York but has not been shown publicly since. Its whereabouts have remained a closely guarded secret.
In a detailed investigation, Michael Forsythe, Graham Bowley, and Elisabetta Povoledo of the New York Times explore the painting’s elusive provenance, shedding light on how valuable masterpieces often disappear into private collections. The report delves into the intricate ways auction houses track and protect information about iconic works of art.
Portrait of Dr. Gachet is one of Vincent van Gogh’s most celebrated paintings. It portrays Dr. Paul Gachet, a homeopathic doctor and artist who cared for Van Gogh during the final months of his life after his stay at an asylum in Saint-Rémy-de-Provence. Painted in June 1890 in Auvers-sur-Oise, there are two authenticated versions of the portrait, both showing Gachet seated with his head resting on his right arm. While similar in composition, the two versions differ in color and style, and there is also an etching.
The first version was acquired by the Städel Museum in Frankfurt in 1911 but was later confiscated by Hermann Göring during World War II and sold. In May 1990, under Christie’s auction house Chairman Stephen Lash, it sold for $82.5 million (equivalent to $192.4 million today) to Ryoei Saito, setting a record as the world’s most expensive painting at the time.