The passing of Van Gogh’s father
Vincent van Gogh’s mother and sister decided to move to Breda after their husband and father passed away. Their new apartment in the city centre wasn’t big enough to store all their belongings, so their mover (who was also a carpenter) offered to store some of their belongings in his storage room at the Ginnekenstraat. Among these belonging were wooden chests that Vincent left behind.
Artworks for sale
Vincent’s mother and sister were not happy in Breda and eventually moved to a different Dutch city; Leiden. They forgot all about Vincent’s chests and left them behind. Many years later, when the mover found the chests, he decided to sell its contents to a merchant. The merchant then sold the contents, which he considered ‘worthless artworks’, for a dime at the Grote Markt.
Discorvery
After a while the merchant found out these artworks belonged to the famous Vincent van Gogh. Immediately regretting his actions, he tried to track down the paintings. The merchant managed to find some of them, but most works remain lost to this day.
Van Gogh’s lost works