From Munch to Degas, an exhibition at the Van Gogh Museum chronicles the acquisitions of the past 10 years

Launching on February 5, 2021, at the Van Gogh Museum in Amsterdam is the exhibition Here to Stay: A decade of remarkable acquisitions and their stories, a review that tells the public about the Dutch museum’s acquisitions over the past decade. Paintings, drawings, prints, sculptures, letters and objects that have become part of the institution’s collection thanks to donations or purchases: these are not only works that can be traced back to the inspiration of Vincent van Gogh (the museum, as is well known, houses the world’s largest collection of Van Gogh’s works), but since the collection includes works by the greatest artists of his time, the acquisitions mainly concern other artists.

There are works by Edgar Degas, Berthe Morisot, Edvard Munch, Henri de Toulouse-Lautrec, and Félix Vallotton, just to name a few of the most prominent names, but the acquisitions also include pieces by lesser-known artists, such as Henri Guérard. Acquisitions, the museum points out, play a central role in the institution’s policies, so the exhibition also aims to highlight why the Van Gogh Museum is so active in acquisitions. There will also be no shortage of personal stories from the curators who worked to make the acquisitions possible: there will be space for them to recount their emotions when faced with a newly discovered important work, for example, in a collector’s legacy. And then again the stories of collectors, of those who have supported the museum over the years, and also those of ten Amsterdam citizens who have been invited for the occasion to tell a story about their favorite work among those on display (the idea being that the works, as the property of the state, are the property of all). And among the “highlights” of the exhibition is then also a letter by Van Gogh, which has been meticulously restored.

An exhibition, then, that focuses on both art history and art histories, and also aims to introduce visitors to new views of the works. “A work of art,” the organizers declare, “is not static, and a museum collection lives and breathes.” The exhibition will be open from Feb. 5 until May 24, 2021. For all information you can visit the Van Gogh Museum website.

Pictured: Edvard Munch, Portrait of Felix Auerbach (1906; oil on canvas, 85.4 x 77.1 cm; Amsterdam, Van Gogh Museum)

From Munch to Degas, an exhibition at the Van Gogh Museum chronicles the acquisitions of the past 10 years

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