On June 19, the revolver Lefaucheux with which Van Gogh would have been fatally wounded, will be auctioned in Paris.
The revolver Lefaucheux with which Van Gogh would have been fatally wounded will be auctioned in Paris on June 19th with an estimate of 40,000 to 60,000 euros, announced Tuesday at the Hotel Drouot who will host this unusual sale. Discovered by a farmer in 1965 in the field where was found injured the impressionist master on July 27, 1890 in Auvers-sur-Oise (Val-d'Oise), the weapon was exposed by the Van Gogh Museum in Amsterdam. 2016. If the authentication of the weapon will probably never be formally established, the provenance is considered serious.
Of 7 mm caliber, the same as that of the bullet that fatally wounded Vincent Van Gogh, the revolver was delivered after its discovery to the owner of the inn Ravoux d'Auvers-sur-Oise where the painter lived and died on July 29, 1890. Since then, the revolver has remained in the same family by descent.
"The most famous weapon in the history of art"
Nicknamed by some specialists as "the most famous weapon in the history of art", this revolver was presented for the first time in 2012, at the publication of the book Aurait-on retrieved the weapon of suicide? Alain Rohan.
According to auction house Auction Art, the analysis of the weapon, very damaged, attests that it remained in the ground for a period of time that may coincide with the year 1890.
In 2011, American researchers also defended the thesis that Vincent Van Gogh would not have committed suicide, but would have been injured by an accidental shot fired by young people who were playing with a weapon. For the experts of Auction Art, "this assumption does not discount the results of research on the weapon in question that could have been abandoned in the field by young boys." "With these conclusions, the revolver was welcomed by the Van Gogh Museum in Amsterdam where it was presented the time of the exhibition," says Auction Art.