Which Van Gogh painting sold for $53.9 million in 1987?

Which Van Gogh painting sold for $53.9 million in 1987? Irises.

Van Gogh painted Irises in May 1889 while living at the Saint-Paul-de-Mausole asylum in Saint-Rémy-de-Provence. The canvas shows vivid blue and violet flowers rising from green leaves and reddish soil, with energetic brushwork characteristic of his late style. It is now held by the J. Paul Getty Museum in Los Angeles.

The 1987 sale made Irises the most expensive painting ever sold at that time. It was purchased by Australian businessman Alan Bond for US$53.9 million, although Bond could not ultimately pay the full amount. The work was later acquired by the Getty in 1990.

Readers often confuse this sale with Portrait of Dr. Gachet, another Van Gogh painting that fetched a higher price—$82.5 million—in 1990. The Red Vineyard is also frequently mentioned in Van Gogh trivia because it is the only painting known to have been sold during his lifetime, but it was not the $53.9 million work.