Van Gogh experts authenticate unusual painting

[February 24, 2010]  AMSTERDAM (AP) -- A newly authenticated Van Gogh has gone on display 35 years after a discredited art collector bought it in Paris, convinced it was painted by the famed Dutch master but never able to prove it.

Louis van Tilborgh, curator of research at the Van Gogh Museum in Amsterdam, said "Le Blute-Fin Mill" was painted in 1886. He said its large human figures are unusual for a Van Gogh landscape but it has his typically bright colors.

It was bought in 1974 by Dirk Hannema, who was known as a brilliant museum curator but a fool when buying for his own collection. When he died in 1984 he claimed to have seven Vermeers, several Van Goghs and a few Rembrandts.

He was right only about this one.

It went on show Wednesday in the Museum de Fundatie in the town of Zwolle.

[Associated Press]

Copyright 2010 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.