Art Auction: Early Van Gogh fetches over 8 million dollars at auction

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01:44

A landscape by Vincent Van Gogh, the first work by the artist to be auctioned in France in more than 20 years, fetched 7 million euros, at a sale on Monday. Let's check it out.

"Women Mending Nets in the Dunes" beat its estimate of 3-5 million euros and was purchased by a buyer based in North America, according to the auction house Artcurial. Auctioneer Francis Briest explained the reasons behind the 7.07 million euros figure.

FRANCIS BRIEST AUCTION HOUSE ARTCURIAL "Why is it a big price? Because you have to bear in mind that there are hardly any Van Goghs left on the market, that they're only left in foundations or museums and so the buyers are ready to pay and to overpay for a work of this quality and importance."

The oil on paper work spent eight years on display in the Van Gogh Museum in Amsterdam before being sold by its private owner.

It was painted in 1882, early in the artist's career. The image was inspired by the countryside around The Hague, where Van Gogh passed a short but formative period in terms of his artistic style. The canvas contains many elements that would later become emblematic of his work including heavy skies and crows.

While hardly cheap, the price comes nowhere near the record $450.3 million paid last November for "Salvator Mundi", Leonardo da Vinci's 15th-century portrait of Christ, which is due to go on display in a new branch of the Louvre museum in Abu Dhabi.