Director's foreword
On 23 June 1999 the new exhibition wing and renovated existing building of the Van Gogh Museum were opened in the presence of Her Majesty Queen Beatrix. This was a momentous occasion, marking the beginning of a new phase in our history. From its origins as a showcase for the collections that had been cared for by the artist's family, the Van Gogh Museum has developed into one of the most popular museums in Europe. Over the years, the museum's ambitions have expanded in numerous ways: the collection has been broadened to encompass a wide range of paintings, sculptures, drawings and prints from the period c. 1840-1920, forming a crucial link between the collections of our neighbours the Rijksmuseum and the Stedelijk Museum; changing exhibitions have become an essential complement to the permanent displays; new activities have been added and more emphasis is now placed on education and making the collection accessible to a broad public.
Throughout the 1980s and 1990s these ambitions placed increasing pressures on the original building designed by Gerrit Rietveld and his partners, and the need for extra space was urgent. This need was met by an extraordinarily generous donation from the private sector. The Yasuda Fire and Marine Insurance Company Ltd. provided, via The Japan Foundation, the funds which enabled the museum to create a new building to house its temporary exhibitions. This spectacular addition was designed by the Japanese architect Kisho Kurokawa. The interiors are intended to be furnished in countless different ways for the changing shows, but the museum did not want neutral and characterless rooms. Kurokawa's architecture, with its fluid forms and breathtaking spaces provides a dramatic setting for our varied programme of exhibitions.
While the new wing was under construction the museum also carried out a major renovation of the Rietveld building, under the auspices of the Rijksgebouwendienst (Government Buildings Agency). Numerous improvements have been made to the fabric and layout of the building, while virtually all the facilities - from the cafeteria to the auditorium - have been upgraded. The permanent collection now occupies the entire Rietveld building in a new presentation which emphasises both the depth of our holdings of Van Gogh and the breadth of our collection of other nineteenth-century artists. As documented in this volume of the Journal, the new displays contain numerous new loans and acquisitions. Especially pleasing is the addition of a major work by Kees van Dongen, the first in the collection, purchased with funds provided by the Great Sponsor Lottery.
Although Van Gogh remains at the heart of our presentations and research, the museum aims to provide a rich overview of many diverse and sometimes contrasting trends in 19th-century art. The Van Gogh Museum Journal is part of that effort. As well as reporting on our activities over the past year and cataloguing the latest acquisitions, the Journal is intended as a vehicle for scholarly research ranging across our area of interest. I would like to thank all the authors for their distinguished contributions. I am especially grateful to Rachel Esner for her skilful editing and management of this publication, and to Benno Tempel and Sjraar van Heugten who assisted her in this task. As before, we have included articles by outside scholars. This publication is the only one of its kind devoted to object-based research on the 19th century, and its continued vitality depends on the participation and support of the wider scholarly community. Your comments, feedback and proposals for new articles are warmly welcomed.
John Leighton
Director
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