Van Gogh's “Blossoming Chestnut Trees” will sell at Sotheby's on 18 November 2026 for more than the artist's auction record of $117.2 million
Sotheby's, Vincent van Gogh, “Châtaigniers en fleurs” · claimed on Nov 12, 2026 · original source
Sotheby's is offering Van Gogh's 1890 painting “Châtaigniers en fleurs” as the headline lot of “Legendary: The Blaquier-Arrieta Collection”, an evening sale in New York on 18 November 2026. The house officially lists it as “Estimate on Request” but has given the press a projected value of $180 million, and on 12 November The Art Newspaper wrote that, because the lot is guaranteed, it is sure to exceed the Van Gogh auction record of $117.2 million including fees, set at Christie's in 2022 by “Orchard with Cypresses”. On 12 November a lawyer for heirs of the publisher Gottfried Bermann Fischer asked Sotheby's to suspend the sale, arguing the painting was sold under Nazi-era duress in 1936. The published result of the 18 November sale (price with fees, or a withdrawal) will settle the case.
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