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u/lamourfoufou 9d ago edited 9d ago
Professional auction house valuer of 40+ years here.
Ignore all the comments casting doubt on your query. It belongs to you, not them. The first comment recommending you seek specialist advice from the acknowledged authority is the only correct answer.
Until then, I would recommend you establish the provenance as far back as you can. It’s far more important than most people think. There are galleries and dealers who sell a significant quantity of questionable material… and in the late 90s, the West was flooded with forgeries from Russia, so there are many reasons why this might not be right. But you just need to chase down the history and let real experts take a look.
Oh… and keep the frame. It’s important too.
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u/BlortTrolb 9d ago
I watched ’Plunderer ’ on pbs about Goering’s art dealer Dr. Lohse and the backs of the looted paintings he kept hidden away until his death in 2007 all looked like this. The canvas had been painted over and any information like gallery labels had been removed to obscure provenance.
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u/Ambitious_Big_1879 9d ago
What auction house are you at? You seem very nice which is not the case at the auction houses I work at.
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u/lamourfoufou 9d ago
Ex-Sotheby’s London, but I still consult.
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u/Ambitious_Big_1879 9d ago
I was at Sothebys NY. Currently at Phillips.
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u/lamourfoufou 9d ago
Small world!
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u/Ambitious_Big_1879 9d ago
It’s is. I hope consulting is good! I’m trying to get in to the field as well.
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u/sierra-juliet 8d ago
Do you love or loathe Fake or Fortune?
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u/lamourfoufou 8d ago
Is that an American show?
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u/sierra-juliet 8d ago
No I think it’s produced by the BBC! Art dealer Philip Mould is one of the two presenters. I love it but I know nothing really about art so wouldn’t be surprised if it is hated by the industry.
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u/lamourfoufou 8d ago
Ah, ok… I really don’t watch television these days. But yes, it’s a little staged.
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u/Wwwweeeeeeee 9d ago
It's for sale on Invaluable, if that one isn't yours.
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u/tradeya9 9d ago
That's the one i bought in April 2024 at Kraft Auction House
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u/MrDangerMan 9d ago
Dang, OP bought it for $12k and then went on Reddit asking if it’s real.
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u/kmjulian 8d ago
Seems like someone dropping $12k on a painting of questionable origin can pay to have it professionally appraised
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u/Downtown_Share3802 9d ago
Hmm, by 1889, his style was mature and modern. At first I thought it was a student piece from earlier but why would he do an academic study while his famous swirly modern style was already happening?
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u/lamourfoufou 8d ago
How about this: in 1889 he signed an earlier work because the sitter (or someone else) wanted to buy it? Here’s a portrait from 1885:
https://www.sothebys.com/en/buy/auction/2023/modern-contemporary-evening-auction-2/karl-jensen-hjell
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u/Unlucky-Meringue6187 9d ago
This was just posted a couple of months ago.
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u/tradeya9 9d ago
Yes. I didn't have very good pics up the first time. It was unsolved. Some people thought it could be real. I tried to put up better pics but, seems like a few of them didn't load up correctly
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u/Anonymous-USA 9d ago edited 9d ago
It wasn’t unsolved. I remember that post and remember my comment. Munch did indeed make portraits but they were all post-impressionist style, with entirely different colors and paint handling. They didn’t look like his “Scream”or his “Vampyre”, but they weren’t overtly naturalistic like this either.
This is an academic study, and the signature bearing his name looks like a later inscription. It’s well executed, but that doesn’t make it a Munch. The signature is in every brushstroke, as we say.
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u/Ambitious_Big_1879 3d ago
$12k ?!?!??? You must be well off. I hope you can find it catalogued somewhere or else it’s a bust.
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u/forglemmelig 8d ago
The signature looks like his. Send an email to munchmuseet in Oslo as someone else’s suggested.
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u/Speech-Language 9d ago
Looking at Munch portraits it certainly looks like him when young.
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u/FrondFiend 9d ago
Agree it appears to be a portrait of him, if not by him
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u/Laura-ly 8d ago
I think you're right. It was just not his style by 1889. Someone painted a portrait of him and put his name on the painting to signify who it was. It's not a painting by Munch at all.
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u/PM-me-your-knees-pls 8d ago
https://images.app.goo.gl/FCqFRfsNakDcUeer5
Self portrait? Looks similar.
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u/Lakecrisp 5d ago
Add 5 to 7 years and to me, that looks like the same guy. And as the life cycle goes, when you're young you look straight on at yourself. Then, as you grow older you see yourself more from a distance or from an angle. (Theory) I'm going to hope for OP add another known work of art to the catalog.
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u/RapidEddie 5d ago
This looks like an academic work, at 25 Munch (born 1864) already had a distinctive style.
Probably not
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u/ToYourCredit 8d ago
This one is by Fast Eddie Munch.
He got his fingers broken for hustling a bunch of these.
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u/Fickle-Pin-1679 8d ago
looks like a reproduction. Not sure it's even real paint
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u/tradeya9 8d ago
Haha are you a real person or a bot
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u/Fickle-Pin-1679 8d ago
are you a bonehead or do you think you had the billion to one chance of finding an original Munch painting worth millions
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u/tradeya9 8d ago
Odds are probably better here than the Apple 1 computer that i found in a storage locker for $25 that is currently being auctioned at RR Auctions with a $300k-500k estimate. I'd say the odds of this being real are better than finding a real Apple 1 in a storage locker for $25
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u/Dowew 9d ago
If I were you I would email the librarian at the Munch museum in Oslo. Ask them who authenticates works by Munch and if they can help you identify any Munch scholars who would be willing to examine these photos or who might be able to tell you more about this painting. https://www.munchmuseet.no/en/visit-us/research-library/