Leon Black’s Van Gogh Collection Emerges in Epstein Files
Newly released Justice Department records have drawn fresh attention to one of the most significant private Van Gogh holdings of the early 21st century. The files indicate that investor Leon Black owned “Quarry near Saint-Rémy,” a September 1889 landscape valued at $60 million in 2016, as well as “Garden with Flowers,” then estimated at $25 million, along with three other works on paper by Vincent van Gogh (1853–1890).
The documents suggest that the works were acquired privately rather than at auction, a detail that helps explain why Black’s name has not always appeared in public discussions of the market for Van Gogh. In retrospect, the scale of the collection is striking. Black appears to have assembled it quietly, through a series of purchases that placed him among the artist’s most important collectors of the period.
“Quarry near Saint-Rémy” had previously belonged to Las Vegas casino owner Steve Wynn. Black is believed to have bought it for $46 million in the early 2000s. By 2016, one of the major auction houses valued it at $60 million, and the figure would likely be higher today. Black lent the painting to the Musée d’Orsay in Paris in 2014 for “Van Gogh/Artaud: Le Suicidé de la Société,” giving the work a rare public outing.
“Garden with Flowers,” an August 1888 drawing, was purchased through a private sale at Christie’s for $8.5 million. Its value had climbed to $25 million by 2016. The work had already gained scholarly visibility: it appeared on the cover of the catalogue for the 2005 exhibition of Van Gogh’s drawings at The Metropolitan Museum of Art and the Van Gogh Museum in Amsterdam.
Black also owned “Roofs, Arles,” bought for $1.25 million and later valued at $3 million; “Wheatfield with Sheaves,” purchased for $2.3 million and estimated at $7 million in 2016; and a copy of Van Gogh’s only etching, “Portrait of Dr Paul Gachet,” acquired for $287,000. The documents further suggest that the works may have served as collateral for bank loans around 2016.
Black’s appearance in the Epstein files does not imply wrongdoing. The records note that Jeffrey Epstein provided him with financial advice and was paid at least $158 million in fees. Black testified before a House of Representatives committee on June 26 and was subpoenaed to return on July 16.
The disclosures do not alter the art historical value of the works themselves. They do, however, place a discreetly built collection into a more public and uneasy context, where questions of taste, wealth, and proximity to power now sit alongside questions of provenance and value.
