An American bought a picture of Renoir at a flea market for $ 7

A resident of the American city of Shenandoah Valley, Virginia, who wished to remain anonymous, bought a large landscape at the flea market, for which, complete with a doll and a plastic cow, she paid only $ 7. After inspection, the canvas, painted in the manner of the Impressionists, turned out to be owned by the famous French artist Pierre-Auguste Renoir (Pierre-August Renoir, 1841-1919).

The buyer admitted that the frame attracted her more attention. When she decided to clean her house of unnecessary things, it was decided to throw away the purchased landscape as well. Fortunately, on the advice of her mother, the woman took the painting to the Potomack auction house for evaluation. The company’s experts said that, in all likelihood, this painting is “Landscape on the Seine” (Paysage Bords de Seine), written by Renoir in 1879

Anne Norton Craner, an auction house expert, said she was immediately impressed by the work. On the back of the canvas, she found the name of the painting and turned to the catalog of the works of the famous impressionist. Cranear later confirmed her assumption by consulting with a specialist in the work of Renoir of the National Gallery of Art in Washington.

The owner said that the landscape will be auctioned on September 29 this year at the Potomac Gallery in Alexandria, Virginia. According to estimates, a picture can cost from 75 to 100 thousand US dollars.

Experts suggest that perhaps the "landscape on the banks of the Seine" arrived in the United States in 1926 with the collection of Herbert May, who was a big fan of the French maestro. May and his wife, Sadie, are the main benefactors of the Baltimore Museum of Art. The last known owner of this work, May, bought it from the Bernheim-Jeune gallery in Paris, but how the painting turned out to be on the flea market remains a mystery.

Anna Sidorova