A newly discovered large oil painting by Vincent van Gogh will go on show at Amsterdam’s Van Gogh Museum later this month.

Sunset at Montmajour (1888) belongs to a private collector and has been lent to the museum for a year.

‘A discovery of this magnitude has never before occurred in the history of the Van Gogh Museum. It is already a rarity that a new painting can be added to Van Gogh’s oeuvre,’ museum director Axel Rüger said.

The painting was made during Van Gogh’s period in Arles in the south of France when he also painted famous works such as Sunflowers, The yellow house and The bedroom.

‘What makes this even more exceptional is that it is a transition work in his oeuvre, and, moreover, a large painting from a period that is considered by many to be the culmination of his artistic achievement,’ the museum said in a statement.

Research

‘We carried out art historical research into the style, the depiction, use of materials and context, and everything we found indicated this is a work by Van Gogh,’ researchers Louis van Tilborgh and Teio Meedendorp, said.

They were also able to trace the painting to his brother Theo’s collection in 1890 and its sale in 1901 to a Norwegian collector.

According to the NRC, the painting was first looked at by experts from the Van Gogh museum in 1991 who then concluded it was false. Two years ago, the museum was asked to look at it again. Better technology and research methods have now convinced experts it is a genuine Van Gogh.