One of the most famous paintings by Vincent van Gogh was sold at auction in 1990 - before disappearing without trace. What has happened to it? The search has taken investigators from the US, to France, Germany, Austria and Switzerland.
Six weeks before his death in 1890, van Gogh painted a portrait of his physician Paul Ferdinand Gachet. The doctor’s melancholic demeanor, described by the artist himself as "the heartbroken expression of our time”, has afforded the work iconic status.
In 1990, 100 years after its creation, the portrait was auctioned in New York for 82 million US Dollars, the highest price ever paid for a work of art at the time. Then, it disappeared into private ownership. Where is it now? Those who know the answer aren’t willing to talk.
In pursuing leads as to the whereabouts of the work, this documentary not only explores the excesses of the global art trade, it also sheds light on the emotional connections that people have formed with the portrait.
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