Van Gogh Museum kicks off 50th anniversary year with family exhibition

The Van Gogh Museum will celebrate its fiftieth anniversary in 2023. The Amsterdam museum will start the year with a tribute to the family of Vincent van Gogh (1853-1890). The exhibition “Choosing Vincent. Portrait of a Family History,” which can be viewed from Friday, tells the history of the museum’s origins and the indispensable role that the Van Gogh family played in it.

According to the museum, it is a personal story “full of moments of doubt, adversity, pride and triumph,” through the eyes of the artist himself, but also those of his brother Theo and others. “Thanks to the support from his brother Theo, Vincent was able to develop into an innovative artist. Other members of the Van Gogh family have ensured that the now world-famous collection of the Van Gogh Museum is accessible to everyone,” said the museum, which first opened its doors to the public on June 2, 1973.

The exhibition shows both masterpieces and unknown paintings. Works of art by Van Gogh’s contemporaries, previously unseen documents and family objects are also on display. The painting Almond Blossom, which Van Gogh painted as a birth gift for his nephew named after him, is central to the exhibit. This Vincent van Gogh, also known as “the engineer,” later contributed greatly to the development of the museum.

The exhibition begins with Vincent’s youth in Noord-Brabant. After that, attention is paid to his years as an artist in Paris, where he lived with his brother Theo. He not only kept Vincent’s work, but also collected art from his contemporaries.

In addition to the family exhibition, the Van Gogh Museum is organizing a big birthday party on Amsterdam’s Museumplein on June 2. Two other major exhibitions dedicated to the anniversary are also scheduled for later this year. Choosing Vincent can be seen from February 10 to April 10.