Source: CCTV.com

07-24-2007 10:07

Graffiti artists may be earning a glimmering of recognition. One considered among the world's great artists won little recognition during his lifetime. That was Vincent Van Gogh.

A South Korean man has unveiled what he claims is an original work by Van Gogh. The title of the this hitherto unseen work is "Landscape with Carriage and Train in the Background." Van Gogh had already made a painting by this name just before his death in 1890. The two works bear a strong resemblance to each other.

The oil version of "Landscape with Carriage and Train in the Background" currently belongs to the Pushkin Museum of Fine Arts in Russia.

But Sur Byung-Soo, the South Korean claiming to own another version of the painting, says Van Gogh had made an earlier version in tempera, and it is this that's in his possession.

The painting in the Pushkin Museum, Sur says, is a reproduction.

Sur Byung-soo, collector, said, "Tempera is a kind of watercolor, and van Gogh handled it in his unmistakable style. It's almost impossible to reproduce a tempera painting."

Sur says his painting was examined by experts from around the world. Most of them agree that the painting is an original.

But Sur says he was often asked how the painting could have ended up in South Korea.

Sur Byung-soo said, "My father got it from a foreigner, and he told me to take good care of it. That was all he said to me."

Sur almost abandoned the painting. That was before he found a picture of the oil-based version in an art book and sensed it was something valuable.

 

Editor:Liu Fang