Van Gogh could break auction records in Asia

A Van Gogh painting not seen for 30 years could break auction records for Asia when it goes under the hammer this month. Les Canots Amarrés (Moored Boats), which the Dutch master painted while traveling in France in 1887, is expected to fetch up to HKD $380 million ($49 million) at Christie’s Hong Kong, which would make it the most valuable work to be sold at auction in Asia, ARTnews reported.

Part of a trio of landscapes, it was completed shortly before the artist’s descent into mental illness. “In the final years of his brief life, Vincent achieved perfect artistic freedom from narrowly prescribed colors, techniques, and subjects,” a Christie’s executive said.