The owner of the cafe that Van Gogh frequented wants to buy one of the master's paintings and hang it there

Art Business News, July, 2003

* The owner of the cafe that Van Gogh frequented wants to buy one of the master's paintings and hang it there. Dominique Janssens, who runs what is now called the Auberge Van Gogh here (20 miles north of Paris), recently negotiated to buy "Field and Poppies," painted just two weeks before Van Gogh's death.

For most of the past 50 years it has been hidden away in a Swiss private collection. The plan is to raise the $27 million in just 30 months, by selling shares for $75 each. Under this scheme, donors will own a tiny share in the painting. A discreet camera will be mounted in the attic room, enabling shareholders to view the painting in "real time" on the Internet. It will require more than 300,000 investors to take up the offer.