Till Schweiger has his no-ear bunny – we have the one-ear artist! Vincent van Gogh is now considered one of the most famous Dutch artists of the early 20th century. In the centre of Amsterdam, an entire museum is dedicated to his works, the famous Van Gogh Museum. During Van Gogh’s lifetime, however, the world looked completely different: Instead of appreciation and admiration, his contemporaries often had nothing but rejection and misunderstanding for him. And Vincent himself? He never really knew what to do with himself and his ambitions during his lifetime. Driven by passion and creative mania, he wandered through life – and even cut off his left ear in the end.

If you’re now wondering how this came about and why he became so famous after his death (spoiler: it wasn’t because his ear was cut off): read on or find out even more on our tour of the museum! By the way, you will also visit the famous Pokémon exhibition… more on this below 😉

An artist without rest or stop

Van Gogh was by no means born an artist. On the contrary, he grew up in a very religious, poor family without any recognisable artistic talent. Although he did have a certain passion, it was only at the age of 27 that he himself finally decided to become an artist and from then on devoted himself fully to this activity. At this point, it must be said that Van Gogh only lived to the age of 37. This means that his career is based on just ten years of creative work! Absolutely crazy when you consider that you can fill an entire museum with his works! Incidentally, the Van Gogh Museum houses the world’s largest collection of his masterpieces. We’re talking about over 200 paintings, around 500 drawings and 820 letters, which are exhibited on three floors along his biography and in the context of the zeitgeist.

All beginnings are difficult

After van Gogh decided to concentrate fully on art, he went back to the basics of drawing and painting: he attended an art academy in Brussels, took lessons from a related painter and tried his hand at his first works of art while travelling through the Netherlands. His numerous lessons and individual studies resulted in his first large figure piece“The Potato Eaters“, which you can of course also find in the Van Gogh Museum.

From Zero to Hero

We already mentioned it at the beginning: During his lifetime, Van Gogh’s art did not receive much attention. Not even the close relationship with his brother Theo and his financial support as well as his contacts in the art scene, which he had as an art dealer, did much to help Vincent’s success. In the last years of his life, he was held in modest esteem, but he only really became famous after his death. Today we know him as the eccentric painter who cut off his ear in the heat of the moment and created hundreds of masterpieces in just ten years. Over 1.5 million visitors have been drawn to the Van Gogh Museum, which is built around his life story, every year since 1973.

If you too are interested in how van Gogh lived, what drove him, what this did to his health and why he is celebrated worldwide today, then plan your visit to the museum with us and don’t miss any exciting details!

Visit to the museum

So that you don’t have to make your way through the three floors on your own, we will be happy to accompany you through the museum and have already compiled all the information that could be important for you in advance and make your planning easier:

How far in advance do I have to buy a ticket?

Experience shows that tickets for the Van Gogh Museum sell out quickly, so check online at least one to two weeks in advance to see what is available and choose a suitable time slot. If you can’t get hold of a ticket for your desired day, you are welcome to check again spontaneously one day in advance. Tickets are often returned shortly beforehand and re-activated 😉

Please note: You cannot buy tickets at the entrance to the museum! As you know, a lot of things are digitalised in Amsterdam, so please buy your tickets online in advance.

Are there any discounts?

Of course, the Van Gogh Museum even has two good discounts! Firstly, students enjoy a good financial advantage, as they only pay €10 instead of the usual €20. The museum is even cheaper for under-18s, who are not charged a single cent. So it’s worth dragging your offspring along and familiarising them with a bit of art history for free ;).

Is the museum barrier-free?

Yep, absolutely. It is spacious and lifts and escalators ensure that you can enjoy every floor to the full.

Are there lockers?

In the Van Gogh Museum – as in other museums – large rucksacks and bags are not welcome in the galleries. It is therefore best to leave your luggage in one of the many lockers to the right of the information desk. There you can choose a language and specify how big the locker should be for your belongings. Then enter a code that you need to memorise so that you can open the locker again later. As a second security measure, you can choose a cute little picture that you have to remember when you collect your items. The locker will then open and your tour of the museum can begin!

Are the famous sunflowers in the museum?

Yes, one of the famous sunflower paintings is on display in the museum. In the centre of the first floor, you can admire the “Fifteen Sunflowers”, which were painted using just three shades of yellow. However, there are a few more paintings of van Gogh’s “Sunflowers”. The other six are spread all over the world, so you would have to go to New York, Tokyo and London to see them. Amsterdam is a little closer ;-).

Is there a guided tour?

But of course, what a question! On our Van Gogh museum tour, we will tell you all the important and exciting stories from van Gogh’s life – from his religious origins and his special relationship with his little brother Theo to his darker chapters, in which he was no longer safe from himself. Together, we will explore the phases of his life and the historical contexts in which his works were created and the impact van Gogh’s state of mind had on his work. Guaranteed to be anything but boring art history!

You can find out how you can take part in our tour in the tour description 🙂

Fancy some more art?

If you are thirsty for more Dutch art history after or before our Van Gogh tour, we will of course also be happy to take you to the Rijksmuseum next door and show you the treasures of the Netherlands on our museum tour. The National Museum serves up around 8000 exhibits on three floors in 80 galleries. If you’re feeling overwhelmed, we’ll be happy to shed some light on the subject and give you a clear overview of the museum. As we can’t fit 800 years of Dutch history into an hour and a half, we’ll focus primarily on the “Golden Age” of the 17th century, from which the most famous painters such as Rembrandt van Rijn emerged. Curious? We look forward to seeing you!