Street in Auvers-sur-Oise

Vincent van Gogh painted this work in the tiny town of Auvers-sur-Oise in the north of France, where he had gone on the advice of his brother Theo to be treated for his mental problems. Vincent eventually committed suicide there, and this is one of his last paintings. It came into the possession of the artist's brother and then his widow, from whom Julien Leclercq purchased it. Leclercq was a French poet and art critic who organised the first van Gogh retrospective in Paris in 1901. He was married to the Finnish pianist Fanny Flodin, sister of the sculptor Hilda Flodin, and in 1903 Fanny sold the painting to the Antell delegation to be included in Ateneum's collection. Thus Ateneum became the first museum in the world to own a Vincent van Gogh.