The Van Gogh Museum looks back on a year in which it succeeded in moving and inspiring its visitors. Their reactions to the museum’s permanent collection and exhibitions – particularly Anselm Kiefer – Sag mir wo die Blumen sind – show that art continues to inspire and deeply resonate with people. The museum also offered programming that related familiar as well as new narratives in an innovative way.
Anselm Kiefer, The Starry Night, 2019, emulsion, oil, acrylic, shellac, straw, gold leaf, wood, wire, sediment of an electrolysis on canvas, 470 x 840 cm © Anselm Kiefer. Photo: Georges Poncet [Collection of the artist, courtesy White Cube]
Visitors and reach
In 2025, the Van Gogh Museum received a total of 1,860,000 visitors. At more than 350,000, visitors living in the Netherlands formed the largest group. Both Dutch and international visitors rated the museum extremely highly, with an average score of 9,2 out of 10. Visitor feedback increasingly reflects appreciation for the personal and human approach the museum takes in presenting Van Gogh’s art and life story, including its connection to the theme of mental wellbeing.
‘I was impressed by the attention to mental health and by how visitors are guided towards the right resources when needed. Wonderfully done! I have admired Van Gogh for so long, and spending a few hours in the museum was the perfect way to immerse myself in his world.’
At the end of 2025, the Van Gogh Museum's official social media channels (Facebook, Instagram, Threads and X) had 10,798,000 followers and reached over 170,000,000 people.
Kiefer’s Die Krähen (The Crows) (2019) Artist’s collection, courtesy White Cube (photo: Georges Poncet)
Vincent van Gogh, Wheatfield with Crows, 1890
Kiefer
The exhibition Anselm Kiefer - Sag mir wo die Blumen sind, an unprecedented collaboration with the Stedelijk Museum in Amsterdam, received particularly high visitor ratings, with an average score of 9. Many of the 340,000 visitors said that the exhibition surprised and moved them.
‘Happy isn’t the right word for the Anselm Kiefer exhibition. Touched and emotional. Beautiful!’
‘Overwhelming! The timeless depth and raw beauty moved me profoundly. The comparison with Van Gogh was great, and the diptych format was unique.’
The exhibition, which featured more than 25 works by Kiefer, was chosen by visitors as the winner of the Museumtijdschrift Exhibition Award 2025, an annual prize recognising the best museum exhibition of the year in the Netherlands.
Jo van Gogh-Bonger
In 2025, the story of Jo van Gogh-Bonger – the woman who played a key role in securing Vincent van Gogh’s global recognition – featured in the exhibition Captivated by Vincent.
She was also central to the creative development programme I Am Jo!, part of the celebrations marking Amsterdam’s 750th anniversary, in which women from Amsterdam were inspired by themes drawn from Jo van Gogh-Bonger’s life, and which helped them explored their talent, creativity and identity. The programme resulted in a range of artworks, which were presented at the Van Gogh Museum and in neighbourhood locations across the city in the summer of 2025.
Younger audience
Compared with the previous year, the Van Gogh Museum received 14% more visitors from the Netherlands aged 18–45 between July and December. The number of visitors accompanied by children (aged between 5 and 18) even increased by nearly 50%.
During this period, the museum complemented the permanent collection with a varied programme, including the presentation of work by the young Nigerian artist John Madu, the LEGO x Van Gogh Museum Yellow House and the family exhibitions Choosing Vincent and Van Gogh and the Roulins. Together Again at Last. A range of additional activities were developed for younger visitors, including workshops, audio tours, a treasure hunt and an interactive performance.
‘Very impressive how engaging this was for children! It gave them a playful introduction to Van Gogh, and they learned so much about his life and painting. At home, they built the Yellow House model, we read ‘Vincent and Camille’, and they drew vases of flowers, inspired by Van Gogh. It was a truly positive experience.’
Interactive performance for families in the exhibition Van Gogh and the Roulins. Together Again at Last. Photo: Anke van der Meer
Accessibility
In June, the Van Gogh Museum introduced a renewed audio tour of Van Gogh’s masterpieces in the permanent collection, which was supported by Samsung, the museum’s new technology partner. The tour allows visitors not only to discover the collection, but also the person behind it. Since its launch, the tour’s average rating rose to 8,8 out of 10.
Turkish and Arabic versions will be added in early 2026, bringing the total number of available languages to fourteen. In addition to existing guided tours for deaf and hard-of-hearing visitors, the museum will also introduce a Dutch Sign Language tour early next year, featuring videos and special headphones for visitors with hearing impairments.
The renewed audio tour at the Van Gogh Museum, supported by Samsung, guides visitors past iconic works in the permanent collection such as Almond Blossom (1890). Photo: Matthijs Klaassen
Looking ahead
Several new exhibitions are planned for 2026.
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The current exhibition Van Gogh and the Roulins. Together Again at Last is on view until 11 January 2026.
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The small-scale exhibition An Ode to Printmaking – The Unique Album ‘L’Estampe originale opens on 29 January: a rare opportunity to see the complete revolutionary print album from 1893–1895. Daring and colourful prints by artists including Toulouse-Lautrec, Bernard, Pissarro and Gauguin celebrate the innovation and individuality of fin-de-siècle printmaking.
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The exhibition Yellow. Beyond Van Gogh’s Colour (13 February to 17 May 2026) explores what the colour yellow meant to Vincent van Gogh and his contemporaries, as well as the role the colour plays in art today. Visitors will experience the colour as never before by immersing themselves in a remarkable light installation by Olafur Eliasson (1967), on view in the Netherlands for the first time.
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The first major exhibition on James McNeill Whistler (1834–1903) in the Netherlands will open in autumn 2026. Whistler is regarded as one of the most influential and controversial artists of the 19th century. Presented concurrently at the Van Gogh Museum (Whistler. Dandy and Disruptor) and The Mesdag Collection in The Hague (Whistler. Loving the Netherlands), the exhibition will feature his celebrated atmospheric landscapes (nocturnes), layered portraits and compositions inspired by Japanese art.