OTTERLO: A Dutch museum on Tuesday put a collection of 88 paintings by Vincent van Gogh on display for the first time since 1984, in an exhibition featuring masterpieces such as The Potato Eaters.
The Kroller-Muller museum in the central Netherlands holds one of the world’s largest private collections of paintings by the 19th century Dutch master, but they are rarely displayed together. ‘Seeing the work of Van Gogh is always special, but 88 together, I don’t think it has happened before in this century,’ museum director Benno Tempel said.
‘The funny thing is with a museum collectionis thatyou have a lot of paintings, you have a lot of artworks, but you don’t show all of them,’ he said. Usually many of the works are out on loan, undergoing restoration or research, or absent for education purposes, explained Tempel.OTTERLO: A Dutch museum on Tuesday put a collection of 88 paintings by Vincent van Gogh on display for the first time since 1984, in an exhibition featuring masterpieces such as The Potato Eaters.
The Kroller-Muller museum in the central Netherlands holds one of the world’s largest private collections of paintings by the 19th century Dutch master, but they are rarely displayed together. ‘Seeing the work of Van Gogh is always special, but 88 together, I don’t think it has happened before in this century,’ museum director Benno Tempel said.
‘The funny thing is with a museum collectionis thatyou have a lot of paintings, you have a lot of artworks, but you don’t show all of them,’ he said. Usually many of the works are out on loan, undergoing restoration or research, or absent for education purposes, explained Tempel.’So, in our case, it was a rare chance that all of a sudden all the 88 paintings by Van Gogh were in our house at the same time,’ he said. Alongside The Potato Eaters, the artist’s world-famous depiction of peasant life from 1885, the exhibition includes Terrace of a Cafe at Night (1888) and The Old Tower at Nuenen (1884). Even the staff at the museum had never seen all the paintings together, said Tempel.
‘For us it’s an enormous, beautiful experience. It’s overwhelming,’ said the 54-year-old.
The exhibition has been organised around the theme of the three divine virtues: faith, hope and love. These themes ‘give you more insight not only into Van Gogh’s life, but also into his development as an artist,’ curator Renske Cohen Tervaert said.-AFP’So, in our case, it was a rare chance that all of a sudden all the 88 paintings by Van Gogh were in our house at the same time,’ he said. Alongside The Potato Eaters, the artist’s world-famous depiction of peasant life from 1885, the exhibition includes Terrace of a Cafe at Night (1888) and The Old Tower at Nuenen (1884). Even the staff at the museum had never seen all the paintings together, said Tempel.
‘For us it’s an enormous, beautiful experience. It’s overwhelming,’ said the 54-year-old.
The exhibition has been organised around the theme of the three divine virtues: faith, hope and love. These themes ‘give you more insight not only into Van Gogh’s life, but also into his development as an artist,’ curator Renske Cohen Tervaert said.-AFP