Sep 9, 2013 2 min read

AMSTERDAM (AP) – The Van Gogh Museum says it has identified a long-lost Vincent Van Gogh painting that spent years in a Norwegian attic because it was thought not to be authentic. It is the first full-size canvas by the Dutch master discovered since 1928.

“Sunset at Montmajour” depicts a dry landscape of oak trees, bushes and sky, painted with Van Gogh’s familiar thick brush strokes. It can be dated to the exact day it was painted because Vincent described it in a letter to his brother, Theo, and said he painted it the previous day – July 4, 1888.

He said the painting was done “on a stony heath where small twisted oaks grow.”

Museum experts said the painting was authenticated by Van Gogh’s letters, the style and the physical materials used, and they had traced its history.

Museum director Axel Rueger described the discovery as a “once-in-a-lifetime experience” at an unveiling ceremony. “This is a great painting from what many see as the high point of his artistic achievement, his period in Arles, in southern France,” he said.

The museum said the painting now belongs to an unidentified private collector and will be on display at the museum from Sept. 24. It did not disclose full details of how the painting had been recovered, but said that it had been owned by a Norwegian man who had been told it was not by Van Gogh.