Seascape at Saintes-Maries-de-la-Mer

A surprising find
In the late 1920s, the Berlin art dealer Otto Wacker brings 33 previously unknown paintings by Van Gogh to market. He claims to have bought them in Switzerland from a Russian nobleman, whose identity he cannot reveal, as the collection was illegally smuggled out of the Soviet Union at the time of the revolution.

Enthusiastically received
Wacker’s find is enthusiastically received. Renowned art experts declare the works genuine and reputable art dealers purchase them. On the recommendation of her advisor H.P. Bremmer, Helene Kröller-Müller acquires one of Wacker’s Van Goghs from the Hague art dealership d’Audretsch: this Seascape at Saintes-Maries-de-la-Mer.

Doubts
However, doubts arise. Vincent Willem van Gogh states that his family has never sold works to a Russian or Swiss national, so their provenance remains obscure. Research in Russia and Switzerland reveals nothing. Pigment testing, X-rays and colour analysis all indicate tampering. Bremmer remains convinced that at least the Seascape is real, but neither the use of colour not the short brushstrokes match the other works that Van Gogh made in Saintes-Maries.