Van Gogh museum dismisses $50 garage sale painting as fake despite $15m claim

Despite a 458-page report and DNA testing, the Amsterdam museum says ‘Elimar’ is not an authentic van Gogh.

A painting once scooped up at a Minnesota garage sale for just $50 has stirred the art world, with some claiming it could be a lost Vincent van Gogh masterpiece. But according to the Van Gogh Museum in Amsterdam, that claim just doesn’t hold up.

The painting, titled Elimar, shows a fisherman smoking a pipe and was allegedly painted around 1889. New York-based LMI Group International purchased the work in 2019 and launched a full-scale investigation to prove its authenticity. Their findings, compiled in a 458-page report, valued the artwork at $15 million.

“We have considered the new information mentioned in the LMI Group’s ‘Elimar’ report,” the Van Gogh Museum told the Minnesota Star Tribune. “Based on our previous opinion on the painting in 2019, we maintain our view that this is not an authentic painting by Vincent van Gogh.”

That opinion was first issued in a February 1, 2019 letter from the museum, where officials stated, “We have carefully examined the material you supplied to us and are of the opinion, based on stylistic features, that your work cannot be attributed to Vincent van Gogh.”

Still, LMI Group stood by their claims. After acquiring the unsigned canvas, they spent $30,000 on analysis, examining everything from brushstroke patterns to shadowing on facial features. They even found a “red in color” human hair embedded in the paint. While DNA testing confirmed it belonged to a human male, the findings were deemed “inconclusive” due to the passage of time.

The word Elimar appears in the lower-right corner of the painting in bold lettering, which the LMI team highlighted as a potential link to van Gogh’s known inscription style. “One striking similarity to our subject work is the brown and red paint often used on van Gogh’s signatures or inscriptions on his oil paintings,” the group stated.

In their final remarks, the team noted that the piece could simply be an undocumented original, lost over time. “Any of the foregoing reasons could apply to ‘Elimar’ as a previously undocumented authentic work by van Gogh,” the report concluded. “It is also highly conceivable that numerous undiscovered works by van Gogh will still emerge.”

Founded in 1973, the Van Gogh Museum is widely regarded as the definitive authority on the painter’s work and authenticates only about 35 pieces per year. On its website, the museum notes that van Gogh’s oeuvre is “very well documented,” and any new discoveries are increasingly rare.

Van Gogh, who died in 1890 at age 37, is credited with creating more than 900 paintings and 1,100 drawings. Despite the rejection, Elimar continues to generate intrigue—and debate—among collectors and art lovers alike.