AMSTERDAM.- The Van Gogh Museum and Takii Europe have been partners for a decade and are proud to announce that they are extending their partnership by another three years. The collaboration brings together art, culture and social engagement.

Since the start of the collaboration in 2015, Takii has supported a range of initiatives in and around the museum. Each year, a ‘sunflower wall’ has been installed at the entrance, where visitors can take photos against a backdrop of real sunflowers.

Other examples include creating a labyrinth of sunflowers on Museumplein and organising excursions for seniors with disabilities.

The Van Gogh Museum and Takii both have a special connection with sunflowers, but another work by Van Gogh, The Sower (1888), also symbolises their partnership. While the Van Gogh Museum aims to inspire a diverse audience with the life and work of Vincent van Gogh and his era – where his love of nature, rural life, sowing and harvesting were central themes – Takii, as a vegetable and flower breeder, is devoted to cultivating and sowing life and beauty.

Art and seed breeding may seem like different worlds, but at their core they share a common aspiration: shaping life with beauty and meaning. The personal involvement of the Van Gogh family with the museum adds extra depth to this shared mission, a value the museum also recognises and appreciates in Takii as a family business.

Ton Kuipers (Takii): ‘It felt only natural to extend our partnership. When you can bring so much beauty to life together, of course you want to keep going.’

Emilie Gordenker (Van Gogh Museum): ‘Thanks to Takii, the museum has been able to highlight sunflowers – Van Gogh’s flower of inspiration – in a special way for ten years and counting.’

To mark the anniversary, an animated version of The Sower has been created, which is being shared on both organisations’ (social) channels.