AMSTERDAM.- The Van Gogh Museum, fully engaged in its cultural entrepreneurship, is developing a new initiative: MEET VINCENT VAN GOGH, a travelling, multi-disciplinary experience, introducing visitors to the world of Vincent van Gogh (1853-1890) in an innovative manner. This all-encompassing experience for the whole family will present the unique story about Van Gogh’s short and turbulent life. The experience combines the artist’s life, work and quest. Guided by facsimiles, audio-visual and digital applications, quotations from letters, life-like reproductions and scenes from his artworks, life and environment, visitors virtually travel through the artist’s life, and thus experience for themselves the story of the person behind the paintings. The first Meet Vincent van Gogh experience will be launched in China in the summer of 2016.

Axel Rüger, the Van Gogh Museum director: “It is our mission to make Van Gogh’s life and work accessible to as wide-ranging an audience as possible, to involve, enrich and inspire them. As a museum and knowledge institute, we have vast expertise and a wealth of stories about the life and work of the world’s most famous artist. In the museum we always concentrate on our splendid Van Gogh collection. The Meet Vincent van Gogh experience is a valuable addition. With today’s techniques, you can virtually go on a journey through Vincent van Gogh’s life. This exhibition will focus on various aspects of his life, his ambitions, the myth and the source of inspiration that he still is to many people.

Due to the fragility and restricted possibilities for the museum collection to travel, we are continuously searching for new, modern and innovative methods to introduce Vincent van Gogh worldwide to as many people as possible. Furthermore, the museum is actively developing its role as cultural entrepreneur more fully. We are considering alternative revenue models and opportunities for developing and marketing new services and products; in this context the experience is our most recent concept.

We are presently developing and creating the Meet Vincent van Gogh experience. We cooperate with a team of specialists to combine the rather specific know-how and expertise. And we make use of the best practices in new technological developments to offer visitors a complete experience. For instance, we closely collaborate with Artcomm, a company with ample expertise and experience with respect to the development, sales, distribution and organization of internationally travelling experiences. We have entered into an agreement with the first licensee in China. Meet Vincent van Gogh will go live halfway 2016.”