Exhibitions
By Shira Wolfe
2023 marks the 170th anniversary of Vincent van Gogh, who was born on 30 March 1853. Simultaneously, the Van Gogh Museum in Amsterdam is celebrating its 50th anniversary. The museum was established in 1973 with the vast collection of Theo van Gogh, which he had inherited from Vincent, making it the largest collection of Van Gogh paintings in the world. To celebrate these milestones, museums all around the world are putting on shows dedicated to the artist. We compiled a list of the variety on offer.
Choosing Vincent: From Family Inheritance to World-Famous Collection
Van Gogh Museum, Amsterdam | February 10 – April 10, 2023
This exhibition explores how Van Gogh’s brother Theo van Gogh, Theo’s wife Jo Bonger, and their son Vincent all played pivotal roles in helping Van Gogh to gain the global recognition he has today. Without their dedication to getting visibility for his art, both during his lifetime and after his death, Van Gogh would probably not have become the world-famous artist he is today. This multi-sensory exhibition introduces Van Gogh and his family in an interactive way.
Learn more about the exhibition here.
Finally, for those in the Netherlands in June, the Van Gogh Museum in Amsterdam invites everyone to celebrate Van Gogh’s legacy on 2 June 2023 at the Museumplein (Museum Square), where the museum is located. The museum first opened its doors on 2 June 1973, and will therefore celebrate with a special birthday party open to the public.
Van Gogh – Masterpieces from the Kröller-Müller Museum
Palazzo Bonaparte, Rome| October 8, 2022 – March 26, 2023
The Renaissance Palazzo Bonaparte in Rome is showing masterpieces by Van Gogh that belong to the collection of the Kröller-Müller Museum in the Netherlands, the second-largest Van Gogh collection after the Van Gogh Museum in Amsterdam. To celebrate the 170th anniversary of Van Gogh’s birth, the Kröller-Müller Museum loaned 50 Van Gogh works to the Palazzo Bonaparte.
Learn more about the exhibition here.
The Van Gogh Village Museum, Nuenen
Opening mid-April 2023
Van Gogh lived in his parents’ house in Nuenen for almost two years between 1883-85. This was an important period in his artistic life, as he had decided to really take his art seriously and become a painter. It is here that he studied the farmers from the surrounding area and painted his first major work, now one of his most famous paintings, The Potato Eaters. The Van Gogh Village Museum tells the story of this phase in Van Gogh’s life and artistic career. The museum is currently being rebuilt and expanded, and is set to reopen in mid-April 2023.
Learn more about the exhibition here.
Van Gogh, Cézanne, Le Fauconnier & the Bergen School
Stedelijk Museum Alkmaar, Alkmaar | April 29 – September 3, 2023
Elsewhere in Holland, the Stedelijk Museum Alkmaar is also dedicating an exhibition to Van Gogh, focusing on the influence that Van Gogh, Paul Cézanne, and Henri Le Fauconnier had on the artists of the Bergen School. In this exhibition, artworks from the Bergen School and the masterpieces that inspired them hang side by side.
Learn more about the exhibition here.
Van Gogh in Auvers-sur-Oise: His Final Months
Van Gogh Museum, Amsterdam | May 12 – September 3, 2023
Musée d’Orsay, Paris | October 3, 2023 – February 4, 2024
The next exhibition on our list is a collaboration between the Van Gogh Museum in Amsterdam and Musée d’Orsay in Paris. The exhibition focuses on the final months of Van Gogh’s life, when he lived in the French village Auvers-sur-Oise. This was a deeply troubled yet extremely productive period in which he made some of his masterpieces like Wheatfield with Crows and Tree Roots. After the exhibition ends in Amsterdam, it will move on to the Musée d’Orsay.
Learn more about the exhibition here.
Klimt: Inspired by Van Gogh, Rodin, Matisse
Belvedere, Vienna | February 3 – May 29, 2023
This exhibition kicked off at the Van Gogh Museum in Amsterdam at the end of 2022 and has since traveled on to the Belvedere in Vienna. The show explores the artists who inspired Gustav Klimt, including Van Gogh and Matisse, and juxtaposes works by these artists, allowing their artworks to enter into a dialogue with one another.
Learn more about the exhibition here.
Van Gogh and the Avant-Garde: Along the Seine
Art Institute of Chicago | May 14 – September 4, 2023
Van Gogh Museum, Amsterdam| October 13, 2023 – January 14, 2024
Starting off at the Art Institute of Chicago and then traveling to the Van Gogh Museum in Amsterdam, this exhibition explores how Van Gogh and his contemporaries painted by the River Seine. Among the artworks on view, 25 are by Van Gogh. There will be two of his triptychs, shown together for the first time.
Learn more about the exhibition here.
Van Gogh’s Cypresses
Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York | May 22 – August 27, 2023
New York’s Metropolitan Museum of Art won’t sit this anniversary year out either, hosting an exhibition titled Van Gogh’s Cypresses, the first Van Gogh exhibition to focus solely on his paintings and drawings of cypress trees. Taking center stage are his iconic paintings The Starry Night and Wheat Field with Cypresses, and a total of about 40 works inspired by the cypress trees he came to know so well in the South of France will be on view.
Learn more about the exhibition here.
Travelling with Vincent – Van Gogh in Drenthe
Drents Museum, Assen | September 11, 2023 – January 7, 2024
The Drents Museum in Assen is putting on an exhibition dedicated to Van Gogh’s Drenthe period – a period that has never before been explored in a museum show. The artist spent time in this part of the Netherlands in 1883, nursing his broken heart and simultaneously falling in love with the peatlands of Southeast Drenthe. From 17 June 2023, visitors can also visit the Van Gogh House in Nieuw-Amsterdam, Drenthe, which is the inn where Van Gogh lodged during his time in Drenthe.
Learn more about the exhibition here.
Van Gogh: Poets and Lovers
National Gallery, London | September 2024 – January 2025
Looking towards 2024, the National Gallery in London is planning a spectacular Van Gogh exhibition in honor of the gallery’s 200th birthday. The exhibition focuses on the themes “poets and lovers”, and how these inspired Van Gogh in his work.
Learn more about the exhibition here.
Relevantsources to learn more
Read more about Vincent van Gogh in our following selection of Artland Magazine articles:
Vincent van Gogh: Life of the Post-Impressionist Master
The Most Famous Van Gogh Paintings Everyone Should Know
Stories of Iconic Artworks: Sunflowers by Vincent van Gogh
Colour as Language: Etel Adnan Retrospective at the Van Gogh Museum
