A drawing by Vincent van Gogh raised $ 10.4 million at a Christie’s auction in New York on Monday, about $ 8.6 million. It concerns the drawing La Mousmé (‘the young girl’) from 1888, of which Van Gogh also made a painting. The latter hangs in the National Gallery of Art in Washington DC.
The proceeds are a record amount for drawings by Van Gogh, reports The Art Newspaper: his earlier drawings A Flower Garden (1888) and Olive Trees with the Alpilles (1889) were auctioned in the 1990s for $ 8.4 million and $ 8.6 million respectively. Christie’s pre-estimated the proceeds of the work at $ 7-10 million.
The drawing auctioned today and the painting of the same name that Van Gogh later made:
Van Gogh drew La Mousmé in the summer of 1888 in Arles, France, inspired by Japanese art and the novel Madame Chrysanthème (1887) by Pierre Loti, set in Japan. The author explains the meaning of ‘mousmé’: “a young girl or a very young woman. It is one of the most beautiful words in Japanese.” In the same year, Van Gogh wrote to his brother Theo that the girl depicted was somewhere between 12 and 14 years old.
The purchaser has not been disclosed. Christie’s also did not report who sold the drawing. According to The Art Newspaper, the drawing comes from the collection of London-based art house Thomas Gibson.