AMSTERDAM.- The Van Gogh Museum has ended a successful year with, yet again, a large number of visitors and a fast-growing number of loyal fans. In 2013, more than 1.4 million people who enjoy Van Gogh's work visited the collection of the museum. This amounts to the same number of visitors as last year, partly as a result of the temporary presentation in the Hermitage Amsterdam. Moreover, the online network of the Van Gogh Museum has grown exponentially; the number of fans on Facebook has increased from 75,000 to 200,000; on Twitter from 50,000 to 75,000 and no fewer than an ample 3 million Van Gogh fans follow the museum via Google+. As such, the museum takes up an online top position in the Netherlands and, in combination with Google+, it even takes up a worldwide number-1 position among all museums.
“Even though the museum had to close because of its renovation, we managed to keep our collection on view for our visitors in the Netherlands throughout the year. First shown in the Hermitage and again from May onwards in our own museum at the Museum Square. "It became our absolute top priority to keep the collection open to the public," according to Axel Rüger, director of the Van Gogh Museum. “On 1 May, the day after the inauguration of the King, we reopened the museum with the anniversary exhibition Van Gogh at Work, the culmination of an eight-year period of scientific study into Van Gogh's working method. From this moment onwards, the number of visitors to our museum has increased tremendously. Since our reopening, the Museum Square again houses its three museums, which all generate huge national, as well as international interest. We therefore look forward with great confidence to 2014, when we will present, amongst others, our new exhibition Félix Vallotton: Fire beneath the Ice and hope to start with the construction of the new entrance.”
Van Gogh once again popular among the Dutch public
A great many Dutch visitors were drawn to the new exhibition of the familiar Van Gogh masterpieces in the Hermitage. This year, a total of more than 170,000 thousand Dutch visitors came to see the Van Gogh collection. The apogee of this anniversary year was the discovery of an important work by Van Gogh and media and visitors flocked to the museum to take a look at Sunset at Montmajour. The painting will remain on show in the museum up to and including September 2014.
Construction of the new entrance in 2014
This year was also characterized by the preliminary activities for the construction of a new entrance. The fundraising activities for the realization of the entrance yielded substantial revenues; the discussions with organizations and private parties about sponsoring of the remaining necessary revenues are well on the way.
The successful introduction of the Relievos, a new generation of top-quality reproductions of five Van Gogh masterpieces, developed by the museum in collaboration with Fuji Belgium, is also an important source of income and contributes to the sound financial basis of the museum. The launch of these reproductions in Hong Kong, Taiwan and Benelux was covered by the media worldwide.
Open every day in 2014
In 2014, the Van Gogh Museum will be open every day, also on New Year's Day, from 11 am to 6 pm, offering various family activities, such as workshops, guided tours and treasure hunts.
From 14 February, the museum will present the exhibition Félix Vallotton: Fire beneath the Ice. Circa 60 paintings from international museums, such as Musée d’Orsay in Paris, Kunsthaus Zürich, The Baltimore Museum of Art, The Art Institute of Chicago and private collections, in combination with 40 prints from the Van Gogh Museum collection, will provide an overview of all aspects of the French-Swiss Les Nabis artist.
