DNA analysis will establish Van Gogh’s authorship of Still Life with Peonies

The hair found in Still Life with Peonies, still considered to be owned by Vincent Van Gogh (Vincent Van Gogh, 1853-1890), will be subjected to DNA analysis. Then, experts will compare the results with the data obtained by analyzing the biological material of living relatives of the legendary post-impressionist, thus hoping to establish the true authorship of the picture.

"Still Life with Peonies" attributed to Van Gogh

According to the restorer Ester Monik (Ester Monnik), who found the hair, it was densely covered with paint, so it certainly belongs to the artist who painted the picture. The hair is red and about 8 cm long.

"Landscape with Peonies" belongs to a collector from Cologne, Markus Robroks (Markus Roubrocks), who inherited the canvas from his father. The work was discovered by accident, in 1977, in the attic of their home in Belgium, and for 35 years, disputes about the ownership of her brush by an artist have not subsided.

Robrox claims that the Dutch artist painted the landscape in the spring of 1889, two independent experts who studied the canvas adhered to the same version. Meanwhile, experts from the Van Gogh Museum in Amsterdam deny authorship, claiming that the brushstrokes in the picture do not match the style of the famous artist and, in their opinion, the painting itself is a workshop fake for Van Gogh. Art dealers say that if Van Gogh actually painted "Landscape with Peonies," the price of the painting will exceed $ 60 million.

The brilliant Dutchman died July 29, 1890, in the French city of Auvers-sur-Oise, after an incident with firearms. Last year, in their book Van Gogh: The Life, American art historians Steven Naifeh and Gregory White Smith hypothesized that the master did not die in an accident, but with someone’s “help”.

Anna Sidorova