Van Gogh's 'Street Scene in Montmartre' painting fetches $13.2 million

A painting of a Paris street scene by Vincent Van Gogh, that had been held in a private collection for over a century sold for a final price of 11.25 million euros ($13.2 million) at auction on Thursday.

The work, painted by Van Gogh in 1887 while he was lodging with his brother Theo in the French capital, was put on display by Sotheby's auction house in Paris earlier this month, marking the first time it was made available for public viewing.

The auction house put an estimated value on the artwork of between 5 million euros ($6.08 million) and 8 million euros ($9.72 million).

Titled "A street scene in Montmartre" - or "Scene de rue a Montmartre" in French - the painting depicts a man and woman, strolling arm in arm past a ramshackle fence with a windmill in the background.

The painting is part of a series that Van Gogh produced of scenes in Montmartre, a hilly district of Paris now dominated by the Sacre Coeur church.

When the artist was there, the church was under construction and the area was a patchwork of fields, houses and windmills on the edge of the city that was starting to attract a bohemian artist set with its cheap rents.

The auction house said the painting had been seen in catalogues, but has never itself been on public display. It did not identify the current owner.

Van Gogh arrived in Paris in 1886. He left the city in 1888, saying he had tired of the hectic pace of Paris life.

He moved to the south of France, where he cut off part of his ear during an episode of mental illness. The artist later shot himself and died near Paris on July 29, 1890.