When the Van Gogh Museum first examined “Sunset at Montmajour” in 1991, it was deemed a fake, stowed in a Norweigen attic and mostly forgetten. Now, 22 years later, the museum has decided the fraud is actually a masterpiece from Van Gogh's formative years and worth tens or hundreds of millions of dollars. Solid turn of events.

Van Gogh painted more than 840 paintings during his career, but “Sunset at Montmajour” isn't some hack job from his fledgling years, but rather "a large painting from a period that is considered by many to be the culmination of his artistic achievement, his period in Arles in the south of France," according to the Van Gogh Museum's press release. 

A key element that has helped identify the painting as authentic is a letter Van Gogh wrote to his brother on July 5, 1988. 

“Yesterday, at sunset, I was on a stony heath where very small, twisted oaks grow, in the background a ruin on the hill, and wheat fields in the valley," Van Gogh wrote. "It was romantic, it couldn’t be more so, à la Monticello, the sun was pouring its very yellow rays over the bushes and the ground, absolutely a shower of gold. And all the lines were beautiful; the whole scene had charming nobility.”

So while Van Gogh may not have signed the painting, his letter serves as a sort of surogate signature, authenticating the painting from the previous day. 

The museum also analyzed the type of canvas, paiting technique and color choice when authenticating the painting. 

The Van Gogh museum will display the painting beginning September 24th as part of their "Van Gogh at Work" series. When the series ends, the current owners will get their painting back and will get to decide if they would like to make tens of millions of dollars or keep the painting in their collection. 

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David Tobia