Van Gogh Museum Faces Closure in Funding Battle with Dutch Government

Van Gogh Museum Faces Closure in Funding Battle with Dutch Government

Amsterdam’sVan Gogh Museumin an August 27press releasesaid it would be forced to shutter if the Dutch Ministry of Education, Culture, and Science does not pony up the funds necessary for a much-needed refurbishment. TheNew York Timesreports that the museum, which houses more than two hundred paintings and roughly five hundred drawings by the Dutch master, has been lobbying for two years for a $2.9 million addition to its $10 million annual subsidy to pay for fixes and upgrades to its climate control, elevator, fire safety, and security systems. The government has said that the Van Gogh Museum should pay for the repairs.

TheVincent van Gogh Foundationwas established in 1960 by the artist’s nephew, also named Vincent van Gogh, to preserve the painter’s legacy. In 1962, the foundation signed an agreement with the Dutch government stipulating that the state would build a museum in central Amsterdam to house the trove of Van Gogh’s works, which the family donated to the foundation, and that it would “ensure the material preservation of the collections, as if they were its own property.” Completed in 1973, the institution welcomes 1.8 million visitors a year and is the highest-earning public museum in the Netherlands.

A report released by an independent committee last year confirmed that the building is in poor shape. “If this situation persists, it will be dangerous for the art and dangerous for our visitors,” Van Gogh Museum director Emilie Gordenker told the Times. “This is the last thing we want—but if it comes to that, we would have to close the building.”

The museum has filed a legal complaint, charging that the state is in violation of the 1962 accord. The Ministry of Culture denies having violated the agreement, contending in a statement that “the subsidy for the housing of the Van Gogh Museum is a fixed amount that is corrected for inflation on an annual basis” and that it is “calculated according to a methodology which is used for all national museums.”