AMSTERDAM.- The Van Gogh Museum received 1,550,000 visitors in 2007. Major crowd pleasers were the exhibitions Vincent van Gogh and Expressionism and Max Beckmann in Amsterdam, 1937-1947. The Barcelona 1900 exhibition (which runs through 20 January 2008) has also garnered an enthusiastic response, having attracted more than 200,000 visitors to date. This exhibition was recently voted as currently one of the best on show worldwide by Britain’s The Times newspaper.

Visitors: The Van Gogh Museum attracts a predominantly young audience. More than half of the visitors are 30 years or younger. This can be ascribed in part to the diverse programming offered by the museum on Friday nights.

Publications: Once again the Van Gogh Museum produced several important books this year, such as the extensive Vincent van Gogh, Drawings 4: Arles, Saint-Remy & Auvers-sur-Oise 1888-1890. This is the fourth and final volume in the series of Van Gogh’s drawings in the Van Gogh Museum and deals with the 176 leaves executed by the artist in Provence and in Auvers-sur-Oise.

The exhibition Vincent van Gogh: Painted with words, the letters to Emile Bernard in the Morgan Library in New York was accompanied by the publication of the eponymous catalogue, to widespread international acclaim. Also published this year was the new academic series Van Gogh Studies. This series is aimed at providing a platform for research into late 19th century and early 20th century art. Part one, entitled Current Issues in 19th Century Art, displays the breadth of current research into late 19th century art.

Acquisitions: This year the collection was enriched with a number of important acquisitions. The drawing by Louis Anquetin, Conversation intime dates from a period considered to be the most important in Anquetin’s oeuvre. The water colour is a valuable addition to the range of works by artists from Van Gogh’s circle of friends.

The drawing Woman on her deathbed by Vincent van Gogh is a welcome supplement to the group of early works by Van Gogh held by the museum. This rendition was made after a painting acquired in 1880 by the Royal Museums for Fine Arts of Belgium in Brussels, where Van Gogh stayed briefly in the period 1880-1881.

Sponsoring: The Van Gogh Museum and the Rabobank are to continue working together from 1 January 2008. The Rabobank will continue to sponsor the successful Museum Bus until 2011 and remains sponsor of the Van Gogh Museum Friday Nights.

Museum Mesdag: Museum Mesdag, the museum of 19th century art in The Hague, ended the year having received almost 15,000 visitors. This represents an increase of approximately 50 percent compared with the previous year. This success is largely due to the exhibition Dwars door de stad (Right through the city). This highly popular exhibition was recently extended to 20 January 2008.