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50 years of inspiration
Home to 200 of Vincent’s paintings, close to 500 drawings and over 700 of his letters, as well as works by his contemporaries, the Van Gogh Museum is celebrating its 50th anniversary this year with a packed programme of events, exhibitions and partnerships bringing people closer to Vincent as an artist and a person.
The family collection of Vincent’s artworks begun by his brother Theo and curated by Theo’s widow Jo and their son Vincent Willem can today be enjoyed by everyone, at the Van Gogh Museum in Amsterdam. Its opening in 1973 was largely due to Vincent Willem’s efforts. Wanting to ensure that the family collection stayed intact after his death, he transferred ownership of the works in 1962 to the State-initiated Vincent van Gogh Foundation in return for the Dutch government’s commitment to construct a purpose-built museum to house them.
One of the best-known cultural institutions in the world, the Van Gogh Museum has a core mission: to share Vincent’s work and life with a diverse global audience, not only through regular exhibitions, painting workshops, lectures and live events –including the Meet Vincent van Gogh Experience (see p15), a technology-driven "immersive exhibition" – but also through licensing partnerships that connect Vincent’s work with new audiences across Asia, North America, EMEA and other key territories
