Similar to “The Night Cafe”, by the outbreak of World War I (1914–18), this work owned by Sergei Shchukin were nationalized by Bolsheviks, and now exhibiting in art museum.

As of today, at least 8 of his most expensive work has been sold since last 3 decades, either in auction or private sales. Below showcasing 8 most expensive oil paintings paid, plus 2 more potentially priced paintings. (Inflation adjusted)

1) Portrait of Dr. Gachet (June 1890) – US$138.4 million (Was $82.5 mil)

Vincent van Gogh painted this piece of his work during the last weeks of his life before his suicide. There are two versions of the portrait. Both painted in the same year.

One of the version was sold in May 1990, through an auction at Christie’s, New York, put up by the Siegfried Kramarsky family. The buyer was a Japanese businessman Ryoei Saito.

Since Ryoei Saito’s death in 1996 Reports in 2007 have claimed the painting was sold a decade earlier to the Austrian-born investment fund manager, in turn, had reportedly been forced by financial reversals to sell the painting to parties as yet unknown.

The second version of the portrait is currently in the possession of the Musée d’Orsay, Paris, France.

Portrait of Dr. Gachet 1890, Van Gogh

2) Irises 1889 – US$101.2 million (Was $53.9 mil)

Van Gogh’s passion of painting flowers, has made this highly priced irises paintings sold at US$101.2 million. This brilliant artwork was painted while Vincent van Gogh was living at the asylum at Saint Paul-de-Mausole in Saint-Rémy-de-Provence, France in the last year before his death in 1890.

In 1987, put up in an auction (Sotheby’s, New York ). Sold by the son of Joan Whitney Payson to an Australian businessman, Alan Bond. Interestingly, buyer did not have enough money to pay for the bidden price. Eventually, the pieces was re-sold to J. Paul Getty Museum in Los Angeles in 1990.

It is noticeably that the painting style used wasn’t as hash as the famous Starry Night. Back then, before inflicted by mental derangement, Van Gogh felt that he could keep himself from going insane by continuing to paint.

Irises, 1889, Van Gogh

3) Portrait of Joseph Roulin 1889 – US$$100.9 ++ million (Was $58 mil plus exchange of works)

Sold by in a private sales via a Swiss art dealer and collector, Thomas Ammann, to the Museum of Modern Art new York.

Joseph Roulin was described as the typical bread-winner in the household, during the period of working class in 19^th century France. Working as a postman toiling for money to make ends meet. A father of three children, and a husband of a housewife, who care for home and children.

Van Gogh did different versions of this portrait. In fact, he told his brother Theo in a letter: “I have made portraits of a whole family, that of the postman whose head I had done previously – the man, his wife, the baby, the young boy, and the son of sixteen, all of them real characters and very French, though they look like Russians. ”

Portrait of Joseph Roulin 1889, Van Gogh

4) Portrait de l’artiste sans barbe 1889 – U$94.5 million (Was $71.5 mil)

Sold by the family of Jacques Koerfer, in late 1998, at an auction held in Christie’s, New York. Buyer remain anonymous till these days.

A self-portrait of artist without a beard. Leading fourth in the list of most expensive paintings. Among many with bearded portrait, this work is exceptionally unique and rare; clean-shaven, crispy-looking, hair gel and back-combing, self-portrait of Vincent van Gogh.

Van Gogh, Self-Portrait, without Beard

5) Self-portrait with bandaged ear 1889 – US$90 million (Was 71.5 mil)

This paintings sold in late 1998, at an auction in Chrisie’s, New York. Buyer remain suspected to be anonymous. Recently, reported by Forbes.com on 10^th March, Phlip Niarchos “Eldest son of late Greek shipping magnate, Stavros Niarchos, inherited father’s art collection of such masterpieces as Vincent van Gogh’s “Self-Portrait with a Bandaged Ear””

Again, another unique piece of Van Gogh’s paintings, with bandaged ear. Do you know that he actually presented his lower chopped-off part of his ear to a prostitute at his favorite brothel?

Van Gogh, Self-portrait with bandaged ear

6) A Wheatfield with Cypresses 1889 – U$85.7 million (Was $57 mil)

Sold by son of Emil Georg Bührle in a private sale via Steven Mazoh. Buyer was Walter Annenberg, a Jewish-born American publisher, diplomat, and a philanthropist.

Van Gogh painted this while he spend his life in a mental asylum at St. Remy in May 1889. In his written letter to Theo, “...the wheat field in the sun, which represents the extreme heat... “, describing one of his best sun-drenched landscape in summer canvases.

There are 2 variants of this paintings, the other owned by National Gallery, London.

Wheatfield with Cypresses, Van Gogh

7) Vase with Fifteen Sunflowers 1888 – U$76.7 million (Was $39.7 mil)

Yet another related paintings on flowers. Van Gogh’s sunflower paintings was auctioned in 1987, an event held at Christie’s London organized by the daughter in law of Chester Beatty. Buyer was described as a Japanese insurance magnate, by the name of Yasuo Goto. Little was known about the intention of this purchased. Neither was a self-interest in a private sales, nor buying it on the behalf of the company. The painting currently resides at Seiji Togo Yasuda Memorial Museum of Modern Art in Tokyo. After the purchase a controversy arose whether this is a genuine van Gogh or an Emile Schuffenecker forgery.

Vase with Fifteen Sunflowers, Van Gogh

8.) Peasant Woman Against a Background of Wheat 1890 – U$64.1 million (Was $47.5 mil)

Sold to Stephen Wynn, an American casino resort/real-estate developer. An unknown seller held a private sale via Acquavella Galleries Inc., New York.

Stephen Wynn has owned an extensive art collection, including Paul Gauguin and Pablo Picasso.

Peasant Woman Against a Background of Wheat, Van Gogh

Last but not least, below are my 2 guesses on the Van Gogh’s painting artwork, having the ever-potential to be priced highly. Despite the fact of every priceless work already in public domain, both are also well-known for oil painting reproductions.

9) “The Starry Night” – June, 1889. St-Rémy. Current Location: Museum of Modern Art, New York City

10) “The Night Café ” – September, 1888. Arles. Current Location: Yale University Art Gallery, New Haven

What will be your pick? I would be interested to hear your ideas and opinions for the next 2 to complete Van Gogh’s Top 10 most expensive paintings.

Pricing Source

Related posts:

1. Starry Night, Van Gogh, Ranked #1 @ Bonanzle
2. Van Gogh’s Technique on “Starry Night”, Oil Painting on Canvas
3. Describing Van Gogh’s Bedroom

Learning “linear perspective” enable you to create depth and distant on a flat surface. By looking at any buildings out from your windows, you will notice object starts to appear smaller and parallel lines look as if they are converging. Visually, this effect reproduces on flat surfaces, such as your sketch book paper. When imaginary lines in the same direction, if extended, meet at a common point on the horizon, it form a vanishing point. Some abbreviate it as V.P.

Perspective is regarded as the key to drawing with great accuracy and quality. It is a tool to establish the scale of objects at different places in space. In general, different viewpoint, has different perspective and vanish point.

Based on the drawing from “The Notebooks of Leonardo da Vinci”, it show how a box would appear between the eye and the subject if it was traced on a flat screen. Using the rules of perspective means that you can draw without the need for tracing: the picture plane – the flat surface of the paper – replaces the window.

Leonardo da Vinci on Perspective

Below I have illustrated objects with three different types of vanish point in linear perspective, subjecting to your viewpoint.

1. Look at a box face-on. With one-point perspective, the horizontal lines at the front remain parallel, but the lines of the top coverage at the vanishing point on the horizontal line.


Perspective Vanishing Point VP1

2. If you look at the box from a corner angle. You will see two sides. With two-point perspective, the parallel lines of each face and the top of the box converge at two vanishing points on each side.


Perspective Vanishing Point VP2

3. Look at a tall box from above. With three-point perspective, the parallel lines of the sides will appear to get closer together towards the base. This means you will have a third vanish point (great for dramatic skyscapes.)

Perspective Vanishing Point VP3

Related posts:

1. The Invention of Oil Painting
2. Van Gogh’s Most Expensive Oil Paintings, Plus 2 More..
3. Describing Van Gogh’s Bedroom

This is an excerpt from the book “Art Theory For Beginners” by Richard Osborne and Dan Sturgis. As a beginner, I have enjoy reading this nice handy book. With simple English and cartoon illustrations to help better understanding. Below on the topic of “The Invention of Oil Painting”

The invention of oil painting was another big change for art. This technology was not developed in Italy but in Flanders by Jan van Eyck 1385 – 1441. The Flemish thought it such a wonderful invention that they tried to keep it a state secret. Before oil painting, most painting was fresco, which, when you think about it, was Roman tradition, or what is called tempra, which is a quick drying opaque paint. Van Eyck discovered that you could suspend pigment in linseed oil, and then apply it to carefully prepared wooden boards, thereby creating a slow drying paint that could be worked on over extended periods of time. The development of oil paint was a huge discoveries; it resulted in far more realistic painting being made, as the application of thin glazes allowed a whole new level of naturalism to be achieved. Suddenly these new hyper-naturalistic paintings become portable, more resilient to changes in climate, and consequently far more of a commodity to be bought and sold. The invention of oil painting is an good example of how technological developments effect art.

Art Theory For Beginners

Related posts:

1. 3 Basic Methods to Dry Oil Painting
2. Choices Of Color Painting Media
3. Van Gogh’s Most Expensive Oil Paintings, Plus 2 More..

1. Format of the oil paintings to narrow a focused the subject in a composition. The choice is whether a vertical portrait or a horizontal landscape format fits better. One can visualize a single figure in the portrait doesn’t favorably fit into a horizontal landscape format, the focus subject may, however, distracted by the excess of ‘emptiness’ on both side.
2. The size and shape of the wall that you will hang your oil paintings. Vertically tall and narrow wall doesn’t blend so well with a oil painting that is in landscape format. And for a large elongated wall, a larger piece of art is therefore, necessary to avoid looking like a postage stamp on the wall.
3. Visibility of portrait oil paintings within enclosed premises. The further the painting frame that you are going to view, the bigger the size is required for better visibility. Small art portrait will only ‘lost’ in a large room.
4. Size of your furniture over which your portrait oil painting will be displayed. Ideally for portrait format, the width is half the measurement of the furniture below, such as a couch or a king size bed. Or if your chosen oil painting is in landscape form, the requirement will be three-quarter of the width of your furniture below.

One of the most practical way to visualise the appropriate canvas dimension is to use brown paper or old news paper; measure and cut it into the right canvas size, use double sided adhesive tape, and paste it on the wall you want it to hang. Now, walk backwards till you can see the entier room from left to right. If nothing seem to be noticeable, it simply tells that the simulated ‘painting’ size has unsignaficantly change the entire room.

Related posts:

1. Van Gogh’s Technique on “Starry Night”, Oil Painting on Canvas
2. Describing Van Gogh’s Bedroom
3. The Invention of Oil Painting

Why my questions is not answered in FAQ?
What is oil painting reproduction?
What is the worth of oil painting reproduction?
Canvas size selling in your store is smaller, can I request for bigger size?
What is the quality of oil paint color used?
Which types of canvas are used?
How good are your artists?
What is the key factor that you able to communicate with Chinese suppliers?
What is simplest method to clean oil painting?
Is shipping insurance included in your selling price?
Do you offer combine shipment?
Do I have to return the wrong paintings for a replacement?
How do you ensure 100% satisfaction guaranteed.
Does a reproduction look 100% like the original?
How much time does it take to make a reproduction?
Do your artists sign the painting with the original artist’s signature?
Should I give feedback after receiving the paintings in good condition?
What sizes of painting are you offer?

Check out the same link to my FAQs.

Beside this written work for today, I have also realised that eBay did not list out my 9 items I have posted yesterday.. Its more than 24 hours. Without wondering why, i log in to ebay sg. Relisted the 9 items individually.

Next, I also realised that the price of my 2nd 9-sets posting has its price changed. I didnt do it.. who else could it be?… Well, minor change of price by cents.. But if someone buy it and im the one who lose out… So who gain eventually? The bigger dot com company who suck up through fees charging.

Anyway, ebay sg has not yet charge for listing fees.. I hope there will maintain this for next 10 years..

Related posts:

1. Will the oil paintings look exactly the same as the picture posted in your store?
2. Welcome to Color Painting Art
3. Starry Night, Van Gogh, Ranked #1 @ Bonanzle