Rediscovered Van Gogh painting fetches $16 million in Paris

This Van Gogh painting has teched $15.4 million at Sothbey's.

The 1887 painting of a Paris street scene titled Street scene in Montmartre is part of a series that Vincent Van Gogh produced while living briefly in the French capital with his brother, Reuters reports.

Senior Director of Sothbey's Impressionis and Modern Art Department, Etienne Hellman said, "You see that he introduces bright colors using very pure pigments. One of the reasons the colors are so well-preserved in this work is the quality of the pigments that Van Gogh used, that I think his brother Theo bought for him. There's a beautiful story between Vincent and Theo, so this painting is also very moving, as a testimony to their relationship when they lived together. There's so many things you can see in it."

The painting spent more than a century in the private collection of a French family

and was put on public view for the first time in February

(SOUNDBITE) (French) SOTHEBY'S AUCTIONEER, CLAUDIA MERCIER, SAYING: "The painting a true rediscovery, meaning that although it has been published in comprehensive catalogues, it has never re-appeared on the market since the day it was acquired by the family who owns it.