An early landscape by Vincent Van Gogh, one of the art world's most sought-after painters, has sold for €7.07m at an auction in Paris.
Painted in 1882, when Van Gogh was 29-years-old, "Fishing Net Menders in the Dunes" depicts peasant women working on the land under a cloudy sky.
It was the only landscape that he painted at the time and was inspired by the countryside around The Hague, where he passed a short but formative period.
The painting, the first Van Gogh to be auctioned in France for more than 20 years, had been valued at €3m to €5m.
It was purchased by a buyer based in North America, auction house Artcurial said.
The former owner was a European collector who had lent the work to the Van Gogh Museum in Amsterdam for eight years until 2015.
"There are no more than two or three auctions of Van Gogh works in the world each year," the auction house added.
