Van Gogh Museum

Template:Short description Template:Use dmy dates Template:Infobox museum The Van Gogh Museum (Template:IPA) is a Dutch art museum dedicated to the works of Vincent van Gogh and his contemporaries in the Museum Square in Amsterdam South, close to the Stedelijk Museum, the Rijksmuseum, and the Concertgebouw.<ref>Museumplein, Template:Webarchive I Amsterdam. Retrieved 17 October 2012.</ref> The museum opened on 2 June 1973,<ref name="dbnl.org">Template:In lang Ronald de Leeuw, "Introduction: the Van Gogh Museum as a National Museum, 1973–1994", Van Gogh Museum Journal, 1995. Retrieved 9 July 2014.</ref> and its buildings were designed by Gerrit Rietveld and Kisho Kurokawa.

The museum contains the largest collection of Van Gogh's paintings and drawings in the world. In 2017, the museum had 2.3 million visitors and was the most-visited museum in the Netherlands, and the 23rd-most-visited art museum in the world. In 2019, the Van Gogh Museum launched the Meet Vincent Van Gogh Experience, a technology-driven "immersive exhibition" on Van Gogh's life and works, which has toured globally.

History

Unsold works

Upon Vincent van Gogh's death in 1890, his work not sold fell into the possession of his brother Theo. Theo died six months after Vincent, leaving the work in the possession of his widow, Johanna van Gogh-Bonger.<ref name=nga>Template:Citation</ref> Selling many of Vincent's paintings with the ambition of spreading knowledge of his artwork, Johanna maintained a private collection of his works. The collection was inherited by her son Vincent Willem van Gogh in 1925, eventually loaned to the Stedelijk Museum in Amsterdam, where it was displayed for many years, and was transferred to the state-initiated Vincent van Gogh Foundation in 1962.<ref name=nga/>In the years following her husband’s death, Johanna van Gogh-Bonger organized exhibitions of Vincent van Gogh's work in the Netherlands and abroad, significantly contributing to his posthumous recognition.

Dedicated museum

Design for a Van Gogh Museum was commissioned by the Dutch government in 1963 to Dutch architect and furniture designer Gerrit Rietveld.<ref name=artnews>Template:Citation</ref> Rietveld died a year later, and the building was not completed until 1973,<ref>Template:Citation</ref> when the museum opened its doors.<ref>The Organization Template:Webarchive, Van Gogh Museum. Retrieved 30 January 2012.</ref> In 1998 and 1999, the building was renovated by the Dutch architect Martien van Goor,<ref>The museum's architecture in overview Template:Webarchive, Van Gogh Museum. Retrieved 6 February 2012.</ref> and an exhibition wing by the Japanese architect Kisho Kurokawa was added.<ref>Template:Citation</ref> In late 2012, the museum was closed for renovations for six months. During this period, 75 works from the collection were shown in the H'ART Museum.<ref>Dan Saltzstein, "Amsterdam’s Van Gogh Museum to Close for Renovations", New York Times, 2011. Retrieved 5 February 2012.</ref>

On 9 September 2013, the museum unveiled a long-lost Van Gogh painting that spent years in a Norwegian attic believed to be by another painter. It is the first full-size canvas by him discovered since 1928. Sunset at Montmajour depicts trees, bushes and sky, painted with Van Gogh's familiar thick brush strokes. It can be dated to the exact day it was painted because he described it in a letter to his brother, Theo, and said he painted it the previous day 4 July 1888.<ref>Template:Cite news</ref>

Art thefts

In 1991, twenty paintings were stolen from the museum, among them Van Gogh's early painting The Potato Eaters. Although the thieves escaped from the building, 35 minutes later all stolen paintings were recovered from an abandoned car. Three paintings – Wheatfield with Crows, Still Life with Bible, and Still Life with Fruit – were severely torn during the theft.<ref>Paul L. Montgomery, "Lost and Found: Huge van Gogh Theft Fails", New York Times, 1991. Retrieved 31 January 2012.</ref> Four men, including two museum guards, were convicted for the theft and given six or seven-year sentences.<ref>Template:In lang "Rovers Van Gogh in hoger beroep forser gestraft", Trouw, 1992. Retrieved 24 February 2012.</ref> It is considered to be the largest art theft in the Netherlands since the Second World War.<ref>Template:In lang "Diefstal Van Goghs grootste kunstroof in Nederland" (subscribers only), NRC Handelsblad, 1991. Retrieved 24 February 2012.</ref>

In 2002, two paintings were stolen from the museum, Congregation Leaving the Reformed Church in Nuenen and View of the Sea at Scheveningen.<ref>"Two van Gogh Works Are Stolen in Amsterdam", New York Times, 2002. Retrieved 5 February 2012.</ref> Two Dutchmen were convicted for the theft to four-and-a-half-year sentences, but the paintings were not immediately recovered.<ref>Lawrence Van Gelder, "Jail for Van Gogh Thieves", New York Times, 2004. Retrieved 5 February 2012.</ref><ref>Template:In lang "Ook bij hof veroordeling van rovers", de Volkskrant, 2005. Retrieved 5 February 2012.</ref> The museum offered a reward of €100,000 for information leading to the recovery of the paintings.<ref>Van Gogh Museum offers reward for information about theft of paintings Template:Webarchive (press release), Van Gogh Museum, 2003. Retrieved 5 February 2012.</ref> The FBI Art Crime Team listed the robbery on their Top Ten Art Crimes list, and estimates the combined value of the paintings at US$30Template:Nbspmillion.<ref>Van Gogh Museum Robbery Template:Webarchive, Federal Bureau of Investigation. Retrieved 23 February 2012.</ref> In September 2016, both paintings were discovered by the Guardia di Finanza in Castellammare di Stabia, Italy in a villa belonging to the Camorra drug trafficker Raffaele Imperiale.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> The two artworks were found in a "relatively good state", according to the Van Gogh Museum.<ref>Template:Cite news</ref>

Buildings

Template:Multiple image The museum is situated at the Museumplein in Amsterdam-Zuid, on the Paulus Potterstraat 7, between the Stedelijk Museum and the Rijksmuseum,<ref name="location">Contact Template:Webarchive, Van Gogh Museum. Retrieved 3 February 2012.</ref> and consists of two buildings, the Rietveld building, designed by Gerrit Rietveld, and the Kurokawa wing, designed by Kisho Kurokawa.<ref>The museum's architecture in overview Template:Webarchive, Van Gogh Museum. Retrieved 5 February 2012.</ref> Museum offices are housed on Stadhouderskade 55 in Amsterdam-Zuid.<ref name="location"/> Depending on the season, sunflowers are displayed outside the entrance to the museum.

Rietveld building

The Rietveld building is the main structure and houses the permanent collection. It has a rectangular floor plan and is four stories high. On the ground floor are a shop, a café, and an introductory exhibition. The first floor shows the works of Van Gogh grouped chronologically. The second floor gives information about the restoration of paintings and has a space for minor temporary exhibitions. The third floor shows paintings of Van Gogh's contemporaries in relationship to the work of Van Gogh himself.<ref name="brochure">Template:In lang Informatie (Dutch visitor's brochure, February 2012), Van Gogh Museum.</ref>

Kurokawa wing

The Kurokawa wing is used for major temporary exhibitions. It has an oval floor plan and is three stories high. The entrance to the Kurokawa wing is via a tunnel from the Rietveld building.<ref name="brochure"/><ref>The layout Template:Webarchive, Van Gogh Museum. Retrieved 5 February 2012.</ref>

Collection

Works by Vincent van Gogh

The museum houses the largest Van Gogh collection in the world,<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> with 200 paintings, 400 drawings, and 700 letters by the artist.<ref>History of the collection Template:Webarchive, Van Gogh Museum. Retrieved 30 January 2012.</ref>

The main exhibition chronicles the various phases of Van Gogh's artistic life.

• His selected works from Nuenen (1880–1885):

Avenue of Poplars in Autumn (1884)

The Potato Eaters (1885)

• His selected works from Antwerp (1886):

Skull of a Skeleton with Burning Cigarette (1886)

• His selected works from Paris (1886–1888):

Agostina Segatori Sitting in the Café du Tambourin (1887)

Wheat Field with a Lark (1887)

View of Paris from Vincent's Room in the Rue Lepic (1887)

• His selected works from Arles (1888–1889):

The Zouave (1888)

Bedroom in Arles (1888)

The Yellow House (1888)

Sunflowers (1889)

• His selected works from Saint-Rémy (1889–1890):

Almond Blossoms (1890)

File:Paul Gauguin - Vincent van Gogh painting sunflowers - Google Art Project.jpg

The Painter of Sunflowers, a portrayal of Vincent van Gogh painting sunflowers by Paul Gauguin, 1888

• And his selected works from Auvers-sur-Oise (1890):

Wheatfield with Crows (1890)

The permanent collection also includes nine of the artist's self-portraits and some of his earliest paintings dating back to 1882.

A newly discovered work has temporarily gone on display. Van Gogh created three unknown sketches of peasants, which were then used as a single bookmark. Stylistically, they can be dated to autumn 1881.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>

Works by contemporaries

The museum also features notable artworks by Van Gogh's contemporaries in the Impressionist and post-Impressionist movements and holds extensive exhibitions on various subjects from 19th Century art history.

The museum has sculptures by Auguste Rodin and Jules Dalou, and paintings by John Russell, Émile Bernard, Maurice Denis, Kees van Dongen, Paul Gauguin, Édouard Manet, Claude Monet, Odilon Redon, Georges Seurat, Paul Signac, and Henri de Toulouse-Lautrec.<ref>Other artists in the collection, Van Gogh Museum. Retrieved 30 January 2012.</ref>

Meet Vincent Van Gogh ExperienceTemplate:Anchor

Template:Multiple imageThe Van Gogh Museum manages an official Meet Vincent Van Gogh Experience, described as a travelling "3D immersive exhibition" using technology and computer audio-visual techniques to cover the story of Van Gogh's life through images of his works.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> The first "experience" was in 2016 in Beijing,<ref>Template:Cite magazine</ref>Template:Unreliable source?<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> and it has since been toured globally to Europe, Asia and North America.<ref name="EXP" />

The Meet Van Gogh Experience does not present original artworks, as they are too fragile to travel.<ref name="EXP">Template:Cite web</ref> The "experience" was designed in collaboration with the London-based museum design consultancy, Event Communications (who designed Titanic Belfast),<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> and it won a 2017 THEA award in the category of Immersive Museum Exhibit: Touring.<ref name="THEA">Template:Cite web</ref>

Visitors

Year	Visitors	Year	Visitors
2000	1,312,000<ref name="visitors2003">Van Gogh Museum closes Van Gogh's 150th anniversary year successfully with 1.3 million visitors Template:Webarchive (press release), Van Gogh Museum, 2004. Retrieved 13 July 2014.</ref>	2010	1,430,000<ref name="visitors"/>
2001	1,276,000<ref name="visitors2003"/>	2011	1,601,000<ref name="visitors"/>
2002	1,593,000<ref name="visitors2003"/>	2012	1,438,000<ref name="visitors2012">Van Gogh Museum Collection visited by almost 1.5 million culture lovers from around the world Template:Webarchive, Van Gogh Museum, 2012. Retrieved 2 January 2013.</ref>
2003	1,342,000<ref name="visitors">Numbers of Visitors Template:Webarchive, Van Gogh Museum, 2012. Retrieved 19 September 2013.</ref>	2013	1,449,000<ref name="visitors2013">Numbers of Visitors Template:Webarchive, Van Gogh Museum. Retrieved 28 June 2014.</ref>
2004	1,338,000<ref name="visitors"/>	2014	1,609,000<ref name="visitors2014">Template:In lang Bezoekcijfers Template:Webarchive, Van Gogh Museum. Retrieved 29 October 2015.</ref>
2005	1,417,000<ref name="visitors"/>	2015	1,900,000<ref name="visitors2017" />
2006	1,677,000<ref name="visitors"/>	2016	2,100,000<ref name="visitors2016"/>
2007	1,560,000<ref name="visitors"/>	2017	2,255,000
2008	1,474,000<ref name="visitors"/>	2018	2,190,000
2009	1,451,000<ref name="visitors"/>	2019	2,135,000<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>

The Van Gogh Museum, which is a national museum (Template:Langx),<ref>Template:In lang Max van Rooij, "Een schitterend, alles overstralend pantser", NRC Handelsblad, 1999. Retrieved 13 July 2014.</ref> is a foundation (Template:Langx).<ref name="management">Management Template:Webarchive, Van Gogh Museum. Retrieved 13 July 2014.</ref>

Axel Rüger, who had been the museum director since 2006,<ref name="management"/><ref>Template:In lang "Duitser Axel Rüger nieuwe directeur Van Gogh Museum", de Volkskrant, 2006. Retrieved 13 July 2014.</ref> left the museum in 2019 to become secretary and chief executive of the Royal Academy of Arts in London.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> The Van Gogh Museum announced that Managing Director Adriaan Dönszelmann would act as general director until a new director is appointed.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>

Since 2000, the museum had between 1.2 and 1.9 million visitors per year.<ref name="visitors2017" /><ref name="visitors2003"/><ref name="visitors"/><ref name="visitors2012"/><ref name="visitors2013"/><ref name="visitors2014"/> From 2010 to 2012, it was the most visited museum in the Netherlands.<ref>Template:In lang Top 55 Museumbezoek 2010 Template:Webarchive. Nederlandse Museumvereniging. Retrieved 3 February 2012.</ref><ref>Template:In lang Top 55 Museumbezoek 2011 Template:Webarchive. Nederlandse Museumvereniging. Retrieved 3 February 2012.</ref><ref>Template:In lang Top 55 Museumbezoek 2012 Template:Webarchive, Nederlandse Museumvereniging. Retrieved 19 September 2013.</ref> In 2015, the museum had 1.9 million visitors,<ref name="visitors2017" /> it was the 2nd most visited museum in the Netherlands, after the Rijksmuseum,<ref name="rankingnl"/> and the 31st most visited art museum in the world.<ref name="rankingworld"/>

The Van Gogh Museum is a member of the national Museumvereniging (Museum Association).<ref>Template:In lang Van Gogh Museum Template:Webarchive, Museumvereniging. Retrieved 13 July 2014.</ref> Template:Clear

See also

• Kröller-Müller Museum
• Van Gogh House
• List of single-artist museums
• List of works by Vincent van Gogh

External links

• Template:Official website
• Meet Vincent Van Gogh Experience Template:Webarchive website
• Virtual tour of the Van Gogh Museum provided by Google Arts & Culture
• Template:Commons category-inline