SHORT TAKES : Painting Can’t Leave France
<i> From Times Wire Services</i>
PARIS —
A Van Gogh watercolor expected to fetch $5 million when it is sold by its French owners next week must not leave the country, the Culture Ministry has ruled. A ministry statement declared the canvas “Roofs” was of national historical interest.
“Roofs,” showing rooftops and the countryside surrounding the Dutch city of The Hague, was completed in 1882, eight years before Van Gogh committed suicide in France.
It is part of a collection belonging to the family of French businessman Georges Renand and comes up for auction Tuesday at the Drouot auction house.