Product：Vincent van Gogh wrote in June 1890, a young man holding a cornflower in Ovey on the banks of the Watts River

NO：0020

Starting Price：USD 4,000,000

Transaction Price：USD 46,732,500

Specification：40.5×32cm

Auction Time：23-Jul-Wed

Auction Company：Christie

In June 1890, the penultimate month of his life, Van Gogh created The Young Man with Centaurea cyanus in his mouth, which vividly depicts a young resident of Orville on the Wadi River. With a head of hair that had been bleached white and messy by the sun, bright green eyes, and rosy cheeks. This young, disheveled character looks like a child in a field, a mischievous, impoverished child, possibly belonging to a farmer's family working on nearby land.
 

Indeed, at this time, Van Gogh was more interested in depicting children than ever before, seeing them as the embodiment of carefree, innocent, and optimistic life. This is something that the artist has been deterred from so far, and it is also something he desperately desires. These characters were referred to by Van Gogh as "about the health and firmness of the countryside", not only as images of lush landscapes, but also conveying the vitality and satisfaction of rural life that artists admire. Ingo F. Walter and Lena Metzger wrote: "There is no trace of depression, depression or warning in the Young Man with Centaurea cyanus in his mouth, and no other portrait of Van Gogh can compare with the cheerful tone of this painting."