Van Gogh painting may fetch $50 million at New York auction

Vincent Van Goghs Still Life, Vase with Daisies and Poppies (1890)will be auctioned tonight at Sotheby's Impressionist and modern art sale in New York. The painting is expected to sell for up to $50 million US.

The canvas is one of only a few from the peak of the artist's career to remain in private hands. Van Gogh's works rarely come up for sale on the open market since the 1980s.

The work was one of the final paintings completed by Van Gogh, done a month before the troubled artist's death. It depicts flowers taken from the same field in Auvers where he later committed suicide, according to Simon Shaw, co-head of Impressionist and Modern art for Sotheby's.

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The current record for sale of a work by Van Gogh is his Portrait of Dr. Gachet which sold for $82.5 million US in 1990.

Sotheby's will also auction a major work by Alberto Giacometti, a 1951 bronze sculpture of a goddess-like figure entitled Chariot. It is estimated to sell for over $100 million US.

The auction also includes works by JoanMir,Amedeo Modigliani, Claude Monet, Henry Moore andPablo Picasso.

The fall auction season continues Wednesday at Christie's. Highlights include a painting by EdouardManet expected to fetch up to $35 million US.