AMSTERDAM.- For more than 40 years, the Van Gogh Museum has managed and displayed world-famous works by Vincent van Gogh and his contemporaries. Within international museological circles, the museum is a leading authority in the fields of management and preservation of this extraordinary collection, as well as with regard to restoration and research. The Van Gogh Museum is home to a wide range of expertise regarding art objects (restoration and publications), collection management and preservation (loans, registration and climate control), exhibition (presentation of the collection and education), buildings (sustainable design and management, lighting and security) and visitors (capacity optimisation).

Adriaan Dönszelmann, Managing Director of the Van Gogh Museum: ‘Under the title of Van Gogh Museum Professional Services, the museum will offer this expertise and our range of professional services to private institutions and collectors, governmental agencies and other museums. By marketing our expertise and services, we are fulfilling growing market demand. This revenue model also dovetails with our vision of entrepreneurship as a cultural institution, in order to increase the amount of revenue generated by the museum itself. It therefore allows us to kill two birds with one stone’.

Professional consultancy and services
Adriaan Dönszelmann: ‘We are witnessing an increasing demand for professional knowledge, expertise and services within a cultural context. Art can be viewed from various perspectives: as a masterpiece, as heritage, as part of a trust or country estate, as an investment or as a gift to a cultural institution. Our experts specialise in various aspects linked to these perspectives. For example, we can advise art owners and managers on how to ensure that works remain in optimal condition. But we are also well versed in art storage and in the requirements that a depot needs to satisfy. Our expertise is not solely valuable to museums and governmental organisations, but also to private institutions, collectors and asset managers who are involved with art collections.

The market raised a wide range of concrete questions during the pilot held over the past two years. One such request related to recommendations for a sustainable climate control system, subsequent to our museum being awarded BREEAM certification. We also made recommendations regarding security and organised training sessions for Chinese museum professionals dealing with collection management and preservation, as well as exhibition organisation’.

Collaboration with Deloitte Luxemburg and TIAS School for Business and Society
The Van Gogh Museum recently began collaborating with Deloitte Luxemburg. This collaboration reflects the joint ambition of the two organisations to forge links between the two traditionally detached worlds of art & culture and the financial sector. The Van Gogh Museum and Deloitte Luxemburg are collaborating to organise the Art & Finance Conference on Thursday, 21 April 2016. Held at the Royal Concertgebouw and the Van Gogh Museum, the conference invites international experts to explore topical issues including collection management and preservation, restoration, research and collaboration with regard to exhibitions, private loans, philanthropy, insurance, private museums and funding.

Van Gogh Museum Professional Services also collaborates with TIAS School for Business and Society in both China and the Netherlands. For example, in an Art Finance & Museum Management chair and by organising masterclasses, as well as in the Executive Master in Art Finance, in collaboration with Fudan University in Shanghai.