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\n 28\/08\/2025 – 11:29 GMT+2\n <\/p>\n
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Amsterdam’s Van Gogh Museum, home to the world\u2019s largest collection of works by Vincent van Gogh<\/a>, has issued an extraordinary warning: without fresh government funding, it may be forced to shut its doors.<\/p>\n The museum says a shortfall in state support threatens a \u20ac104m renovation plan – and with it the safety of the paintings, the well-being of visitors and the future of one of the Netherlands\u2019 most visited cultural landmarks.<\/p>\n \u201cIf this situation persists, it will be dangerous for the art and dangerous for our visitors,\u201d Emilie Gordenker, the museum’s director, told The New York Times. \u201cThis is the last thing we want – but if it comes to that, we would have to close the building.\u201d<\/p>\n The conflict dates back to the genesis of the museum. <\/p>\n After Van Gogh\u2019s death<\/a> his nephew, V.W. van Gogh – known in the documents as \u201cthe Engineer\u201d – placed the family collection into a foundation in 1962, on the condition that the Dutch state create and maintain a museum to keep the art together and accessible to the public. <\/p>\n When the Van Gogh Museum opened in 1973 the promise seemed secure. What followed was nearly half a century of extraordinary public interest: since opening the museum has welcomed almost 57 million in total – and numbers peaked at about 2.6 million in 2017. <\/p>\n In recent years the museum has continued to attract large audiences, reporting roughly 1.8 million visitors in 2024 – making it Amsterdam\u2019s second most-visited museum, after the Rijksmuseum<\/a>.<\/p>\n In spring this year it staged a landmark joint exhibition with the Stedelijk Museum of the work of Anselm Kiefer<\/a> – a show titled “Where Have All The Flowers Gone?” that placed the German painter’s monumental canvases and installations in dialogue with Van Gogh\u2019s legacy. Later in the year, parts of the programme travelled to London\u2019s Royal Academy<\/a>, where they remain on display. <\/p>\n But running a successful museum comes at a cost. The building that has coped with those crowds since the early 1970s is showing its age: ventilation and climate control systems are past their useful life, safety, accessibility and sustainability standards have moved on, and new legal obligations on public buildings require costly upgrades. <\/p>\n