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The Only Painting Van Gogh Ever Sold
A sad fact about one of history’s greatest painters
In 2017, one of Vincent Van Gogh’s paintings was sold at auction for a record setting sum. The painting in question, Labourer in a Field, sold for a whopping $81 million. This was one of a string of Van Gogh’s paintings that have sold for tens of millions of dollars. Unfortunately, Vincent the painter never saw this kind of monetary success. In fact, he didn’t see any fame at all in his brief life. Despite painting hundreds of individual works, Van Gogh only sold one single work officially.
Van Gogh scraped, traded, and hawked his paintings on the street for room, board, and supplies but very few were ever sold for legitimate sums of money. In fact, only one painting was ever recorded as having being sold at an art exhibition for a sticker price. That painting was The Red Vineyard.
The Painting
In 1890, Van Gogh sold The Red Vineyard to fellow painter Ann Boch for 400 francs. That sum equates to roughly $20 today. It was the only time that Van Gogh successfully sold a painting from a gallery with a receipt. The painting (pictured above) was…
