French post-impressionist painting sells for EUR 9.5 million

Paris: A painting by French post-impressionist artist Paul Gauguin fetched 9.5 million euros ($10.5 million) in a Paris auction on Tuesday.

“Te Bourao II”, which depicts a stream with birds and flowers in a rich palette of blues and greens, was painted in 1897 when Gauguin was living on the Polynesian island of Tahiti.

The artwork was the only Gauguin still in private hands and one of a series of nine paintings produced by the artist while working on a much larger project later titled “Where Do We Come From? What Are We? Where Are We Going?”

Born in Paris in 1848, Gauguin was influential in the symbolist movement as a painter, sculptor and ceramist, and gained wider fame after his death in 1903. He also influenced artists like Pablo Picasso and Henri Matisse.