The Van Gogh Museum in Amsterdam faces closure unless the Dutch government provides extra cash to maintain the buildings that house its collection, according to its director.
Vincent van Gogh, who was born in 1853 and died in 1890, painted some of the most acclaimed and highly valued works of art in the modern world and a 1962 agreement with the artist’s nephew preserved the family’s collection of his works for public display as long as the state paid for a museum building.
Emilie Gordenker, 60, the museum’s director, has now warned that unless the government increases funding by €2.5 million a year for renovation the collection will have to close its doors.
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“If this situation persists, it will be dangerous for the art and dangerous for our visitors,” she told The New York Times. “This is the last thing we want, but if it comes to that, we would have to close the building.”
After its opening in 1973, with modernist buildings designed by Gerrit Rietvelf and Kisho Kurokawa, the museum quickly became an international success, rivalling the Dutch national collection at the Rijksmuseum in Amsterdam thanks to its collection of 200 Van Gogh paintings, including many of his most famous, as well as 500 drawings and his letters.
The artist’s popularity is such that the museum has restricted visitor numbers to 1.8 million from a peak of 2.25 million. It generates 85 per cent of its own income.
The Van Gogh Museum requires funding to cover its costs during an extended closure for renovations
ALAMY
When the artist died, a large portion of his art and collection remained within the family, including priceless masterpieces such as Almond Blossom, which was painted to hang over the cradle of his infant nephew Vincent Willem van Gogh.
The nephew, who died in 1978, handed over the entire family collection, including masterpieces by van Gogh’s contemporaries, to a newly formed public foundation. In return, the Dutch state committed itself to provide resources to house a museum.
Almond blossom was painted for Van Gogh’s nephew, who donated much of his collection to the Dutch state
VAN GOGH MUSEUM
“The Dutch state must fulfil its legally established obligations,” a statement from the Vincent van Gogh Foundation said. “The foundation is deeply concerned about the accessibility of the Van Gogh collection in light of the current funding issues.”
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The museum has planned work and will use its financial reserves to cover €50 million in lost revenue during partial closures for the renovation.
It is asking the Dutch government, which is embroiled in a crisis after the PVV, a hard-right party led by Geert Wilders, pulled out of the ruling coalition in June, to increase its annual contributions to €11 million from €8.5 million to cover building costs and to meet fire safety and energy efficiency requirements.
The Dutch culture ministry has said the institution should cover the costs itself, arguing it “receives one of the highest subsidies per square metre of all national museums”. “The subsidy is a fixed amount that is corrected for inflation on an annual basis,” it said. “The subsidy is calculated according to a methodology which is used for all national museums.”