PARIS (Reuters) - A Paris auctioneer said on Wednesday he was suing Le Figaro newspaper for libel over a series of articles casting doubt on the authenticity of "Jardin a Auvers", said to be one of Vincent Van Gogh‘s last paintings. The lawsuit to be filed by auctioneer Jean-Claude Binoche against the newspaper and its art critic Jean-Marie Tasset is only the latest chapter in a legal saga dogging "Jardin a Auvers" (Garden at Auvers) since its last sale in 1992. Binoche told Reuters his suit, to be filed in the next few days, will accuse Le Figaro of defaming his Paris auction house by attacking the authenticity of the painting, which has been called "cursed" due to its legal troubles over the years. Le Figaro had no immediate comment. A series of articles in the Figaro, the most recent last weekend, has argued that the painting does not reflect Van Gogh‘s style of the period and suggest it may have been the work of Claude Emile Schuffenecker, a Van Gogh contemporary who may have copied masterpieces. Most experts maintain the work is authentic, concluding Van Gogh painted it in July 1890 in Auvers northeast of Paris. Van Gogh committed suicide in the town later that month. During his two months there, he is credited with having painted 83 pictures. The Figaro articles question whether Van Gogh, feverishly churning out masterpieces, had the time during the final days of his life to wait for each of the multiple layers of thickly applied paint to dry before applying the next. Jacques Franck, a specialist in old master techniques attached to the University of California in Los Angeles and retained by Binoche, concluded after an analysis that the work was genuine. Binoche‘s suit against Le Figaro follows the filing of a lawsuit against Binoche‘s auction house by the heirs of its current owner, banker Jean-Marc Vernes, who died in April 1996. The painting, showing a garden of multi-coloured flowers enveloped in swirling greens and blues and measuring 64 by 80 cm, was bought by Vernes in 1992 for 55 million francs from collector Jacques Walter. Following Vernes‘ death, Vernes‘ heirs attempted to once again auction off the painting in November 1996. But the Figaro articles questioning its authenticity cast a shadow over the sale, and the bids never reached the minimum price demanded by the sellers. The heirs‘ suit accused Walter and Binoche, who had auctioned the painting in 1992, of trying to obscure the work‘s origins.