Posted on 08/28/2025 12:58:32 AM PDT by nickcarraway
The Van Gogh Museum, the beloved Amsterdam home to many masterpieces by one of the 19th century’s most famous painters, said it could be forced to close if the Dutch government doesn’t appropriate more money to a much-needed renovation.
The museum threatened closure on Wednesday via press release, an unusual measure that the institution said was necessary because the government is “not keeping the promise” it inked with the Vincent van Gogh Foundation in 1962. The foundation owns most of the artworks on view at the museum, including iconic paintings such as The Potato Eaters (1885).
Signed after the artist’s descendants agreed to hand over hundreds of works to the newly created foundation, the 1962 agreement states that the Dutch state must continue to fund the construction and upkeep of the Van Gogh Museum. But the museum alleges that the country’s government has not committed enough funding the institution, which has filed a legal complaint about the matter, according to the New York Times.
The Times report stated that the museum currently receives around $10 million from the government annually—and it now needs around $2.9 million more per year to support costs related to climate control, elevators, and building infrastructure.
In its release, the museum described its building as being in “poor condition.” “Most technical installations have reached the end of their operational lifespan, are conceptionally outdated and increasingly difficult to maintain due to a lack of spare parts,” the museum said. “As a result, ongoing maintenance is no longer feasible and the systems must be replaced.”
To remedy the issue, the museum is undertaking Masterplan 2028, a $120.6 million project that would see the institution partially close to the public and begin necessary maintenance work. The museum said it needed the expanded government funding in part to offset an anticipated decline in ticket sales.
Safety is an issue, too. “If this situation persists, it will be dangerous for the art and dangerous for our visitors,” Emilie Gordenker, the museum’s director, told the Times.
Responding to the plea for additional funding, the Dutch culture ministry told the Times, “The subsidy for the housing of the Van Gogh Museum is a fixed amount that is corrected for inflation on an annual basis. The subsidy is calculated according to a methodology which is used for all national museums.” Moreover, the culture ministry said, the “Van Gogh Museum receives one of the highest subsidies per square meter of all national museums.”
The situation appeared to upset the Van Gogh Foundation, which said in a statement, “The Vincent van Gogh Foundation is deeply concerned about the accessibility of the Van Gogh collection in light of the current funding issues surrounding necessary investments in the Van Gogh Museum’s buildings and facilities.”
i agree ... toured Amsterdam in the late 90’s ....definitely worth seeing and it indeed is indeed an aging building ... wasn’t there long enough to visit everywhere i wanted to, but did manage to tour the Anne Frank house and drove on the giant Zuiderzee Works dam ... wanted to tour a working windmill, but alas ran out of time ...
Sounds like they have way too much overhead. Maybe administration salaries are too high.
The museum big wigs probably have huge salaries.
I find his painting to be ugly and not worth my time. Hideous, actually. I have seen most children paint similarly.
They could sell one painting and be set for the next 2 decades. Why anyone pays so much for his trash paintings remain a mystery to me, but to each their own.
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