$50 Garage Sale Find Challenges the Gatekeepers of Van Gogh
A fisherman’s portrait, scooped up for just $50 at a Minnesota garage sale, now sits at the center of a high-stakes art world standoff. The painting, dubbed Elimar, has been declared a genuine Van Gogh by a data science firm armed with a 458-page dossier and a roster of experts from chemists to lawyers. Their evidence includes 19th-century pigments, a matching canvas thread count, and even a red-haired DNA trace found in the paint. Yet, the Van Gogh Museum in Amsterdam—the global authority on the artist—remains unmoved, twice rejecting the claim due to inconsistencies in style and technique. While the LMI Group insists on the painting’s authenticity, others point to the possibility of a lesser-known Danish artist behind the work. In the world of art, even a signature swirl of paint can spark a million-dollar debate, where science and tradition rarely see eye to eye.
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