A landscape Vincent van Gogh painted in the last weeks of his life, and one that has stayed out of public view for decades, goes under the hammer at Sotheby’s New York on November 18 with an expected price that would put every previous van Gogh sale in the shade.
Châtaigniers en fleurs (1890) leads Legendary: The Blaquier-Arrieta Collection, an evening sale of 12 Impressionist and Post-Impressionist paintings assembled by the Argentine couple Carlos Pedro Blaquier and Nelly Arrieta de Blaquier. Sotheby’s has not printed an estimate in its catalogue, listing the picture as “estimate on request,” but the auction house has said it expects the canvas to sell for in the region of $180 million. The 12 works together are expected to bring around $450 million.
A result anywhere near that number would smash van Gogh’s auction record of $117.2 million, set at Christie’s New York in November 2022, when Verger avec cyprès (1888) sold as part of the Paul Allen collection.
Painted weeks before his death
Van Gogh painted the flowering chestnut trees in May 1890, soon after moving to Auvers-sur-Oise, north of Paris. He had spent the previous year in the asylum at Saint-Rémy-de-Provence. He died in Auvers that July, aged 37.
The picture shows chestnut trees in blossom against a blue sky, with women carrying parasols passing beneath them. It was last exhibited publicly at the Guggenheim Museum in New York in 1964, and has belonged to the Blaquier-Arrieta collection since 1975, according to The Art Newspaper.
Helena Newman, Sotheby’s chairman of Impressionist and Modern art, called the consignment “a market-defining moment” when the sale was announced in September, and suggested the painting could climb past $200 million.
A Cézanne record is also in play
The van Gogh is not the only potential record in the room. Paul Cézanne’s Arlequin (1888–90), from the artist’s series of harlequin pictures modelled on his son Paul, is expected to fetch around $120 million. Sotheby’s says it is one of only four such examples; another hangs in the National Gallery of Art in Washington, DC.
A price above that expectation would challenge Cézanne’s auction high of $137.8 million, paid for a view of Mont Sainte-Victoire at the same 2022 Paul Allen sale.
The rest of the group is far from filler. Camille Pissarro’s 1898 view of the Place du Théâtre-Français is estimated at $30 million to $40 million, Pierre-Auguste Renoir’s En Canot (Jeune fille à la barque) (1877) at $25 million to $35 million, and Claude Monet’s Le Jardin des Tuileries (1876) at $15 million to $20 million.
Who were the Blaquier-Arrietas?
Nelly Arrieta de Blaquier, who died in 2020, chaired the Friends of Argentina’s National Museum of Fine Arts. Her husband, Carlos Pedro Blaquier, ran the sugar producer Ledesma as president from 1970 to 2013 and died in 2023. In 2012 he was charged over alleged involvement in kidnappings during Argentina’s military dictatorship; he denied the allegations and died without facing trial.
The couple kept the paintings at their estate, La Biznaga, outside Buenos Aires. Sotheby’s has guaranteed the collection, meaning the sellers are assured a minimum price whatever happens on the night. The amount has not been disclosed.
When and where to see it
The collection is on view at Sotheby’s, 945 Madison Avenue, from November 7 until the sale on November 18. Sotheby’s requires visitors to reserve a time slot.
The auction falls in the middle of New York’s busiest week of the art calendar, with Christie’s and Phillips holding their own marquee evening sales on November 17.