Van Gogh Watercolor The Harvest in Provence Could Fetch Record $35M at Sotheby's

Vincent van Gogh's watercolor The Harvest in Provence (June 1888) will be auctioned at Sotheby's New York on May 19 with an estimate of $25m-$35m, potentially setting a record for a Van Gogh work on paper. The current record is $35.8m for Wheat Stacks sold at Christie's in 2021. The watercolor, larger (49 x 61 cm) and more elaborate than a companion piece The Blue Cart at Harvard Art Museums, was created just days before the oil painting of the same scene. Van Gogh used pencil, reed pen, ink, and at least eight watercolors, inspired by Japanese prints. The work is signed and titled, suggesting it was a standalone piece, not merely a sketch. It was sent to his brother Theo on June 15 or 16, 1888. The watercolor has a Whatman watermark from Kent, England. It was acquired by critic Julius Meier-Graefe by 1899, who reproduced it as the first color lithograph of a Van Gogh. Later owned by collector Anne Kessler, it sold at Sotheby's in 1997 for £8.9m and again in 2003 for $10.3m. The present vendor is likely American. The view depicts the plain of La Crau near Arles, with the abbey of Montmajour and Les Alpilles in the distance, possibly painted from the Moulin de Jonquet.