Epstein files reveal Leon Black as a key Van Gogh buyer

Documents released by the US Department of Justice in January as part of the “Epstein files” indicate that investor Leon Black owned major Vincent van Gogh works, including the painting Quarry near Saint-Rémy (September 1889), valued at $60 million in 2016, and the drawing Garden with Flowers (August 1888), valued at $25 million in 2016, plus three other Van Gogh works on paper. The Art Newspaper reports these works appear to have been acquired through private sales; Quarry near Saint-Rémy was bought from Steve Wynn for $46 million, likely in the early 2000s, and was lent by Black to the Musée d’Orsay in 2014 for the exhibition Van Gogh/Artaud: Le Suicidé de la Société. Black previously made headlines in 2012 as the buyer of Edvard Munch’s The Scream (1895) pastel for $120 million, then a record auction price. Black, who chaired New York’s Museum of Modern Art from 2018 to 2021, testified on 26 June before a US House committee investigating Jeffrey Epstein, refused to answer questions about possible non-disclosure agreements with Epstein victims, and has been subpoenaed to produce any such agreements and appear again on 16 July; the report notes that his appearance in the files does not imply wrongdoing.

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