A painting acquired at a Minnesota garage sale in 2016 is now believed to be a long-lost work by Vincent van Gogh, potentially valued at $15 million, according to a recent report by the LMI Group. The artwork, depicting a fisherman and signed "Elimar," is thought to have been created during Van Gogh's stay at a mental health facility in Saint-Rémy-de-Provence in 1889.
Susan Brantly, a professor in the German, Nordic, and Slavic department at the University of Wisconsin-Madison, was enlisted by the LMI Group to assist in authenticating the piece. Her expertise in 19th-century Scandinavian literature contributed to the analysis of the painting's inscription and historical context.
The LMI Group, based in New York City, employs a combination of data science and traditional art historical methods to verify the authenticity of artworks. Their process involves thorough examinations of stylistic elements, material composition, and provenance research. The painting's impasto technique and stylistic features prompted a detailed investigation, including computational analysis of the "Elimar" inscription.