Van Gogh piece exhibited for first time

A painting by the great artist Vincent van Gogh is to be displayed to the public for the first time at the van Gogh Museum in Amsterdam.

Strolling Couple or A loving Couple, which depicts a man and a woman embracing, walking by a canal, has previously been held in private collections. It was one of van Gogh's final works, created just two years before he committed suicide.

Before he painted it, van Gogh put down his ideas in a letter. He wrote: "I am sending you a little sketch of a study that is preoccupying me. Sailors come back with their sweethearts toward the town, which projects the strange silhouette of its drawbridge against a huge yellow sun."

A reproduction of the sketch will be displayed next to the painting.

Nienke Bakker, from the museum which organised the display, said: "He cut it out carefully and kept it, so there must have been some element, something special that he saw in it."