A Van Gogh masterpiece, which is believed to be the celebrated artist's final piece of work, will be put on the public market for the first time. It is already expected that the painting, known as "The Fields", will become one of the most highly valued paintings ever auctioned.

Van Gogh completed "The Fields", also known as "Wheat Fields", on July 10, 1890, just 19 days before his death. The painting hung in his room as he bled to death in his bed, after having shot himself in a field and staggering home.

The Fields remains one of the few Van Gogh works to remain in private hands, and is often celebrated for shedding some light on the emotions that Van Gogh was feeling in his final days.

It will be unveiled at Sotheby's in London next month on October 7, and will be sold at auction in New York a month later. The estimated list price is $34 million dollars. However, it is expected to go for much more than the list price, due to its importance and the currently booming art market. The Fields is expected to provoke one of the heaviest bidding wars.

A spokeswoman for Sotheby's said of the painting:

"As a unique work of art from the final days of the artist's life, the price will most likely be driven by passion. This is perhaps the last opportunity for a collector to acquire a landscape of this quality by Vincent van Gogh."

Van Gogh's brother, Theo, was extremely emotionally attached to the painting. So much so that he kept it in the family collection for 20 years before his widow Johanna sold it to a private collector, Paul Cassirer, in 1907. Since then the painting has exchanged hands in private collections, but has never entered the public market.

Although it has been disputed over the years as to which of Van Gogh's paintings was his last, a number of respected experts strongly believe that The Fields was his final artistic endeavor.