The painting, which had been missing for 133 years, is set to go up for auction at DESA Unicum, an esteemed auction house in Warsaw, on June 15.
Experts have valued Summer Evening at between PLN 3 million and PLN 5 million (USD 700,000 to USD 1.2 million).
Prior to the auction, art enthusiasts will have the opportunity to see the rediscovered painting, alongside other remarkable works by Polish artists, at an exhibition at the Warsaw auction house.
"The exhibition is a unique event," Jan Koszutski, an art expert, told Polish state news agency PAP. "Summer Evening belongs, along with Indian Summer, to those paintings by the artist which, when exhibited in 1875 at the Society for the Encouragement of Fine Arts [in Warsaw], met with a lack of understanding on the part of critics, and also caused consternation and indignation among the public."
Discouraged by the reaction, Chełmoński allegedly hid the painting and left the country for Paris, where he stayed for nearly 12 years.
Summer Evening was last seen in 1890 during an individual exhibition in Warsaw, after which its fate became uncertain.
However, its history took a dramatic turn following World War II when it survived the conflict hidden away in the attic of the current owners' great-grandparents' villa near Warsaw.
Since then, the painting has remained treasured within the family, passing down from one generation to the next, only to be recently rediscovered by a family member.
(jh/gs)
Source: PAP