Van Gogh painting from 1887 to make public debut

A major Paris work by Vincent van Gogh that has been part of the same French family’s private collection for more than a century is to go on public display for the first time since it was painted in the spring of 1887, The Guardian reports.

Scène de rue à Montmartre is said to be part of a very rare series depicting the celebrated Moulin de la Galette, on the hilltop overlooking the capital, painted during the two years the Dutch artist spent sharing an apartment with his brother Theo on rue Lepic.

Acquired by a French collector in 1920, it has remained in the same family ever since and never been shown in public, despite being listed in seven catalogues. It will be exhibited in London, Amsterdam and Paris before being sold by Sotheby’s in March when it is expected to fetch between €5m (£4.3m) and €8m.

“Very few paintings from Van Gogh’s Montmartre period remain in private hands – most are in the collections of prestigious museums around the world,” said Aurélie Vandevoorde of the auctioneer’s impressionist and modern art department in France. “The appearance on the market of a painting of this calibre, from such an iconic series, undoubtedly marks a major event.”

Claudia Mercier of the auction house Mirabaud Mercier, which is associated with the sale, said the work was “captivating”.

The painting shows the Moulin Dubray or Moulin à Poivre, a Montmartre windmill destroyed in 1911, along with the entrance of the Moulin de la Galette enclosure topped with decorative lanterns, and a carousel behind the wooden fence.