In 1957, local author Anne Parrish Titzell donated the oil painting with a vase full of poppies to the Wadsworth Atheneum Museum of Art in Hartford, Connecticut. There it was exhibited as Van Gogh original.
In the eighties, however, it was banned to the archives until today, after a dispute over the authenticity of the image remained unanswered.
Researchers at the Van Gogh Museum in Amsterdam, however, have now been able, after meticulous examination of the materials and stylistics used, to establish beyond doubt: it is real. The Dutch painter Vincent Van Gogh (1853-1890) made it in 1886, shortly after his arrival in Paris. The art forensics also found remnants of a previous painting under the poppy depiction painted by Van Gogh, a poor living artist, to save money and canvas. Parts of a male portrayal can be recognized by the color under the x-ray.
As Van Gogh expert Martin Bailey writes in "The Art Newspaper," in the fall of 1886, the artist wrote a letter to his British friend Horace Livens, describing how he spent the summer, a series of color studies to create by painting simple flowers, "red poppy, blue cornflowers and forget-me-not".
Van Gogh, now celebrated as a genius, is considered misunderstood during his lifetime. He sold only a few paintings and suffered from shortages. In addition, he painted most of the paintings that are known today and treasures million-dollar art treasures, only in the last ten years before his death. It was not until February that a still life of hazelnuts and fruits, also from Van Gogh's time in Paris, was authentically verified in San Francisco. Like poppies from Connecticut, it was considered a fake for many years.