One of Vincent van Gogh’s most important late works is heading to auction. Blossoming Chestnut Trees will be offered at Sotheby’s New York on 18 November with a pre-fee estimate of $180m, having spent more than six decades largely hidden from public view.

Van Gogh painted it in May 1890 in Auvers-sur-Oise, northwest of Paris, only weeks before he died. The canvas shows a spring scene of pale blossoms beneath a bright blue sky, with three women strolling beneath parasols. It comes from an intensely productive stretch that began after he left the asylum at Saint-Rémy-de-Provence.

The Argentine Blaquier family bought the painting in 1975, and it sits within a wider collection that includes works by Cezanne, Monet, Renoir and Gauguin. Twelve pieces from that collection are expected to bring in a combined $450m.

Should it reach its estimate, the painting would overtake Van Gogh’s current auction record, held by Orchard with Cypresses, which fetched $117m with fees in 2022. Its reappearance gives collectors a rare chance to own a major work from the last months of one of modern art’s most influential figures.

Image: Châtaigniers en fleurs (Chestnut Trees in Blossom), courtesy of Sotheby’s.