Van Gogh's Chestnut Trees in Blossom goes on show in Hong Kong, valued at $180 million

(ECNS) -- Vincent van Gogh's Chestnut Trees in Blossom was on show in Hong Kong ahead of Sotheby's auction in New York this autumn, where it is expected to smash records and fetch around $180 million, according to Sotheby's on Tuesday.

Painted in May 1890, the painting portrays a blossoming chestnut tree with a solitary man walking past three women in Japanese attire. It is one of the most important works from the Dutch artist's final days in the French village of Auvers-sur-Oise, where he died about two months later, aged 37.

The painting is poised to set a new auction record for a Van Gogh work, said Scott Niichel, a vice chairman at Sotheby's.

"This is a moment of extraordinary optimism, frenetic energy, enthusiasm, passion, and colour in the artist's body of work," he said.

Another painting Paul Cezanne's Arlequin, or Harlequin, a portrait of the artist's son Paul dressed in a Harlequin costume in late 1888, is valued at $120 million.

The show also features a selection of modern and contemporary artworks, including Infinity Nets by Yayoi Kusama and Homage to the Square by Josef Albers.

(By Zhang Dongfang)