Van Gogh Museum

The world’s largest Van Gogh collection, with over 200 oil paintings including Sunflowers, Almond Blossom and The Potato Eaters, displayed in order of his life. Advance booking is required.

The Van Gogh Museum opened in 1973. Its main building was designed by Dutch De Stijl architect Gerrit Rietveld. In 1999, Kisho Kurokawa added an elliptical wing. The collection comes from donations by the family of Vincent’s brother Theo: over 200 oil paintings, 500 drawings and more than 700 letters. It is the most complete Van Gogh collection in the world. The permanent exhibition is arranged chronologically across the third floor of the main building. It begins with the dark tones of The Potato Eaters from the Nuenen period, moves through the self-portraits of the Paris period influenced by Impressionism, and continues to the Arles period with Sunflowers, The Yellow House and The Bedroom. The Saint-Rémy period includes Irises and Almond Blossom, painted for his nephew’s birth, and the display ends with Wheatfield with Crows from Auvers. The exhibition also includes Japanese ukiyo-e prints that Van Gogh collected, works by contemporaries such as Gauguin, Toulouse-Lautrec and Monet, and letters between Vincent and Theo, which help visitors understand the struggles and passion of his ten-year artistic career. Admission costs about €24. Visitors under 18 enter free. Tickets can only be bought in advance on vangoghmuseum.nl and are not sold at the door. The multimedia guide costs about €3.50. Photography without flash is allowed in the galleries, except for some loaned works. Peak season is crowded, so consider entering after the 9:00 opening or after 15:00. A visit takes about 1.5 to 2 hours. Getting there: take tram 2, 5 or 12 to the Van Baerlestraat or Museumplein stop. The museum is next to the Rijksmuseum. The “I amsterdam” letters on the square have been removed, but the lawn and the winter ice rink are still places to rest. The museum shop’s sunflower merchandise and postcards are very popular.

Van Gogh Museum

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