The Van Gogh Museum in Amsterdam has acquired Virginie Demont-Breton's 1887-88 painting *L'homme est en mer* at the TEFAF Maastricht fair. The work, depicting a woman and child awaiting a sailor's return, becomes only the third painting by a female artist in the museum's collection and was purchased for a sum between $543,000 and $1.1 million.
This acquisition is significant because Vincent van Gogh himself admired and copied this specific painting after seeing a reproduction, making it a rare documented instance of a female artist directly influencing his work. The purchase highlights ongoing efforts by major institutions to address historical gender imbalances in their collections and underscores the market's growing recognition of 19th-century women artists.