This work, Remembering Operation Market Garden, 80 years later, by SPC Andrew Clark, identified by DVIDS, must comply with the restrictions shown on https://www.dvidshub.net/about/copyright The Van Gogh Village Museum in Nuenen will soon have a so-called Van Gogh cabinet The former sketchbooks of the Brabant master painter can be seen in it The cabinet contains copies of four Van Gogh sketchbooks that are indistinguishable from the originals The real Van Gogh sketchbooks are in the vault at the Van Gogh Museum in Amsterdam because of their fragility A total of one thousand cabinets were made The fact that one of them will soon be on display in Nuenen is thanks to a donation is donating the cabinet to the Nuenen museum and website in this browser for the next time I comment Δdocument.getElementById( "ak_js_1" ).setAttribute( "value" Metrics details Congregation Leaving the Reformed Church in Nuenen Left: visible light photography; right: photography of UV-induced fluorescence (filters: 85B and UV 2E pale yellow image showing the yellow green fluorescence of the varnish layer Spots of examination mentioned in the text marked: IRn: reflection FTIR spectroscopy; OCTn: Optical Coherence Tomography; PMn: photomicrographs; S1: sample collection spot for Optical Microscopy and FTIR-ATR; TESTn: spots where cleaning tests were performed and monitored by OCT and reflection FTIR spectroscopy In order to create a tailored treatment method for this painting further knowledge had to be gained regarding the number of varnish layers present the reasons why they were applied and by whom as well as their composition and solubility properties It was also important to locate the varnish layers in relation to the overall layer build-up of the painting given by the two separate painting sessions the possibility of the presence of an alkyd varnish also on the surface of Congregation Leaving the Reformed Church in Nuenen needed to be taken into consideration Range of different phenomena observed on the painting’s surface. Photomicrographs taken in: a raking visible light at ×25 magnification; b raking visible light at ×40 magnification; c raking visible light at ×40 magnification; d scattered visible light at ×25 magnification. For the location of the images, see Fig. 1 (left) Locations of all examination spots mentioned in this report are given in Fig. 1, left and (for XRF) in Additional file 1: Fig To gain an overview of the pigments that Van Gogh employed in this painting, the chemical elements were identified in a total of 17 locations (Additional file 1: Fig S1) using a portable X-ray fluorescence spectrometer This instrument consists of a low power Rhodium X-ray tube and a Silicon-Drift energy dispersive X-ray detector A collimator with a diameter of 3 mm was used for the analysis The measurements were performed under atmospheric conditions using a tube voltage of 40 kV and 6 µA current The acquisition time was 10 s in measurements 1–4 and 60 s in measurements 5–17 A single micro-sample including the full stratigraphy was taken from the painting (for location see Fig. 1 left) embedded in a polyester resin (Polypol PS230) and polished perpendicularly to the surface to obtain a cross-section This was examined under a Zeiss Axioplan 2 optical microscope both with bright field illumination and UV-induced fluorescence The filter set ‘UV H365’ used for examination in UV-light consists of the following filters: excitation BP 365/12 For further identification of the pigments a Jeol JSM 5910 LV scanning electron microscope was used with a Thermo Fisher silicon drift detector system for energy dispersive X-ray spectrometry (SEM-EDS) The primary electron beam energy was 20 kV The cross-section was examined in the low-vacuum mode (30 Pa) FTIR-ATR imaging was performed on the cross-section of the sample by means of a Perkin Elmer Spectrum 100 FTIR spectrometer combined with a Spectrum Spotlight 400 FTIR microscope equipped with a 16 × 1 pixel linear mercury cadmium telluride (MCT) array detector A Perkin Elmer ATR imaging accessory employing a germanium crystal was used for ATR imaging Scale bars in all the tomograms are equivalent to 200 μm in both directions It is worthwhile to mention that OCT primarily detects in-depth distances as optical and not geometrical ones but all tomograms presented herein are corrected for this effect with use of a common value of 1.5 for refractive indices of varnishes and binders The possible error caused by the divergence from the real values is below the resolution of the instrument in case on thin layers present here Non-invasive FTIR analyses (a total of 26 measurements) were performed using the portable FTIR spectrometer ALPHA produced by Bruker Optics (Germany/USA-MA) The instrument is equipped with a SiC globar source a “rock solid”-design interferometer (with gold mirrors) and a DLaTGS detector An external reflectance module with an optical layout of 22°/22° allows contactless measurements from areas of ca 3 mm (∅) visible on the PC monitor by a USB camera interfaced with the spectrometer The IR spectra were collected in a spectral region ranging from 7000 to 350 cm−1 by setting 146 scans and a resolution of 4 cm−1 and visualized in pseudo-absorption mode (Log (1/R); R = reflectance) Spectra collected from a gold flat mirror were used as background The instrument used is a Jasco Fourier Transform Infrared (FTIR) 4100 spectrometer equipped with a ceramic light source a Michelson interferometer and a nitrogen cooled mercury cadmium telluride (MCT) detector The spectrometer is coupled to a Jasco IMV 4000 optical microscope with three objectives (Cassegrain 16X the areas were selected by the Cassegrain 16X The IR spectra were collected in the range from 7000 to 600 cm− 1 with a spectral resolution of 4 cm− 1 and using 4000 scans a number of tests were performed to determine the solubility properties of the upper varnish layer that was to be removed different organic solvents were tested in various locations of the painting Wettened cotton swabs were carefully rolled over the surface and the reaction was observed under the stereomicroscope It appeared that the best effect was obtained with pure ethanol which dissolved the varnish material efficiently without visually affecting the paint layers This solvent was thus selected to be employed in the subsequent varnish removal tests that were monitored in-situ and step by step by means of FTIR and OCT the extracts from swabs were also analysed by µFTIR spectroscopy Two of these tests will be discussed in more detail in the following section both of which were conducted in areas that are representative of the painting’s complexity They were expected to assist in determining whether the non-original varnish could be removed without harming the original structure underneath test no. 7: pure ethanol applied in 3 steps by rolling consecutive times with cotton swabs. Step 1: 24 rolls; step 2: 12 rolls; step 3: final cleaning under the microscope (Fig. 6) test no. 9: pure ethanol applied in 2 steps by rolling with cotton swabs. Step 1: 18 rolls; step 2: 12 rolls (Fig. 7) The areas selected for the cleaning tests (10 × 10 mm2 for test no 9) were marked by ‘windows’ cut in transparent Mylar foil a FTIR spectrum was collected in the middle of the marked square area The painting was then placed horizontally under the OCT head with a scanning beam projecting down and OCT data was collected the solvent cleaning procedure was applied by rolling cotton swabs on the surface of varnish without moving of the OCT head (with 43 mm distance from the lens to the painting) Then the OCT data were collected again for the repeatability of scans and thus for a precise comparison between the scans obtained before and after this treatment step the painting was transferred for FTIR analysis on the same marked area repositioned again under the OCT instrument This procedure was repeated for as many steps as necessary Due to the relatively large size of the FTIR data collection spot (3 mm) it was possible to reposition the painting for consecutive measurements within the designated foil window a micrometric scale precision is necessary for the comparison of tomograms and generation of differential maps from subsequent cleaning steps Mechanical limiters were used for coarse positioning of the painting after relocation with precision of about 50 µm in X,Y directions but with no control in Z direction Software matching of the B-scans taken from the OCT data collected before and after repositioning enabled achieving the desired micrometric alignment (better than the distance between B-scans in Y direction: 80 µm better than twice the lateral resolution in X direction and better than twice the axial resolution in air in Z direction) To investigate the palette Van Gogh used for each of his two painting campaigns, 17 spots were analysed by XRF, covering different colours of the composition (Additional file 1: Table S1) Six of these analyses were taken from areas that—based on the microscopic examination of the painting’s surface—include the initial paint layers from the beginning of 1884 (measurements 2 4 and 12–15) and ten from areas that comprise both the paint of this first campaign and the 1885 additions (measurements 1 For one location it was not certain whether it is composed of the paint layers of one or both painting campaigns (measurement 10) Apart from the apparent differentiation of the use of white pigments in the two painting phases particularly in the later added yellow and orange paint strokes of the hedge (measurements 8 and 9) a relatively large response for iron was obtained indicating the use of different shades of ochre in these 1885 additions except for two analyses of the sky (measurements 14 and 15) which is characteristic of the red pigment vermilion indicated by the co-presence of lead and antimony The detection of a small amount of chromium in a few spots suggests that chrome yellow or orange may also be present Results of examination of the cross-section of the sample taken from the lower edge of Congregation Leaving the Reformed Church in Nuenen (spot S1 in Fig. 1 left); a image taken in bright field illumination; b UV-induced fluorescence; c Backscattered Electron Image; d FTIR-ATR spectrum of layer 5 On the basis of these initial investigations the composition of the varnish layers and their location in relation to the paint layers of the first and second campaign could not be completely resolved the integrated OCT/reflection FTIR approach was applied as discussed in the next section Further characterisation of the complex stratigraphy of paint and varnish layers as well as their topography was achieved by employing the non-invasive optical coherence tomography technique The painting was examined in 35 spots within which OCT detected two layers of varnish in 30 spots as already observed in the paint sample cross section The upper layer is thin and continuous with the average thickness of 10–12 μm and is in some cases noticeable as two layers In combination with the results obtained by reflection FTIR (see below) this varnish can most likely be related to the restoration treatment carried out in 1961 The bottom varnish layer on the contrary is less continuous and can frequently be seen in the form of round-shaped lumps of transparent material of various sizes (30–100 μm in diameter) probably concerning the original egg white varnish by Van Gogh a single thin layer of the upper varnish may be seen (4) applied on top of the paint layer constituting the artist’s modification from 1885 (3) lumps of transparent material (the bottom varnish layer) can be observed (2) separating the overpaint from the initial paint layers from 1884 (1) OCT results collected at spots OCT15 (a) and OCT21 (b). White lines in the macrophotographs mark the exact location and direction of the OCT tomograms. Layers visible: (1) initial paint layers from 1884, (2) Van Gogh’s initial varnish from 1884, (3, 3a) Van Gogh’s painted addition from 1885, (4) later, non-original varnish layer(s) from the 1961 restoration treatment. Yellow arrows mark the discontinuity of the paint layer Selected reflection FTIR spectra collected in the areas indicated in Fig. 1 in comparison with a reference IR spectrum of an alkyd resin (grey spectral profile) As mentioned above, rather than forming a continuous layer, the egg white varnish is present in the shape of (semi-)transparent lumps or islands, which is also visible in the micrographs of the painting’s surface (Fig. 2) This is most likely the result of the characteristic shrinking that takes place during the drying process of egg white this feature has also led to cracks in the underlying semi-dry paint layers with which the egg white has formed a tight bond The disrupted paint surface can thus be linked to the application of this particular material Since the egg white varnish in Congregation Leaving the Reformed Church in Nuenen was most probably applied by Van Gogh himself the cleaning tests were focused on the selective removal of the uppermost alkyd resin layer(s) while preserving the original varnish the cleaning resulted in only a little change of the varnish thickness Some areas (marked red in the differential map) show the accumulation of material probably as a result of transferring some varnish during cleaning with the swab a Localisation of cleaning test no. 9 (the yellow circle indicates the area analysed by portable FTIR); b, c photomicrographs (VIS raking light and UV-excited fluorescence) of this area after treatment (see Fig. 2b for the photomicrograph before varnish removal) white rectangles exact location of OCT tomograms shown in panels f and g; d reflection FTIR spectra collected before (uncleaned) and after each step of the test in comparison with a reference spectrum of an alkyd resin (characteristic alkyd signals marked with arrows) Si: silicate component; P: protein; e FTIR spectra recorded in transflection mode from the swab extracts in comparison with a reference spectrum of an alkyd resin and that corresponding to the blank (extract of pure cotton in ethanol) Asterisks mark signals probably affected by those of the blank; f g OCT tomograms collected before and after varnish removal description of layers: (1) initial paint layer from 1884 (3) later varnish layer from the 1961 restoration treatment; h i OCT topography maps collected before and after varnish removal; j OCT differential map showing amount of removed material the combination of the applied techniques made it possible to visualize the stratigraphy of Congregation Leaving the Reformed Church in Nuenen to gain information on the painting materials used by Van Gogh and to understand the origin of the complex surface phenomena observed This knowledge was crucial to test and define the most opportune cleaning procedure corresponding to the specific complexity and needs of the surface in different areas of the painting The painting was created in early 1884 and partially reworked by Van Gogh in late 1885 The initial XRF-measurements revealed the artist’s palette used in both painting campaigns Cross-section analysis provided information about the layer build-up showing that there are at least two varnish layers present The lower varnish was identified with FTIR-ATR as protein-based which was also confirmed by reflection FTIR spectroscopy in situ in the OCT tomograms both painting sessions were recognized and it could be determined that the proteinaceous layer is located between the paint layers of the first and second campaign this varnish was applied between spring 1884 and fall 1885 From the knowledge on the artist’s varnishing practice it can be concluded that this most likely concerns an original egg white varnish This layer appears to be responsible for the disrupted paint surface—due to its shrinking properties during the process of drying identification of the uppermost varnish as an alkyd resin made it possible to link it to the 1961 restoration treatment In contrast to the underlying original egg white varnish it formed a rather glossy continuous layer that had pooled in the interstices of the paint surface and its yellowish colour was for a great part responsible for the undesired patchy appearance of the painting The combination of results gained from optical coherence tomography and reflection FTIR facilitated the characterisation of both varnish layers location as well as origin/dating and made it possible to determine that only the upper The monitoring of the cleaning procedure was performed by the simultaneous measurement of chemical optical and morphological changes of the object step by step the selective action of the solvent restricted to the non-original varnish was confirmed This allowed fine-tuning of apt cleaning strategies for the restoration treatment that would re-establish a balanced appearance of the painting regarding its surface gloss and saturation of colours The datasets used and/or analysed during the current study are available from the corresponding author on reasonable request but it is unclear whether this was done during the 1961 intervention In the three paintings examined from the first half of 1884 no zinc white was detected while zinc white was identified or probably present in 15 out of the 16 investigated paintings dated 1885 The retouching appears somewhat darker in the UV fluorescence image, see Fig. 1 As there is no loss visible in this area in the X-ray the retouching might have been applied in order to cover the disrupted paint surface In the blue coat and white hat of the figures in front of the hedge (measurements 5 and 6) as well as in the green paint in the foreground (measurement 16) a peak around 6.9 keV was detected which matches the Kα1 emission line energy of cobalt However since the response for zinc was very high in these areas this peak may rather correspond to the escape peak of the Kα1 emission line of this element Van Gogh also used such retouching varnishes in the Potato Eaters (F82) [13] Van Gogh preferred a matte surface in the paintings he created during his later career in France and therefore generally did not varnish them at all which for this purpose was dissolved in Shellsol D 40® a mixture of paraffinic and naphthenic hydrocarbons C9-C11 (1 weight part : 9 volume parts) Fourier transform infrared spectrometry by attenuated total reflectance Scanning electron microscopy with energy dispersive X-ray spectroscopy Jansen L, Luijten H, Bakker N, editors. Vincent van Gogh: The Letters. Version: October 2021. Amsterdam & The Hague: Van Gogh, Museum, Huygens ING. 2009. Available from: https://vangoghletters.org Vincent van Gogh Paintings 1: Dutch period 1881–1885 Amsterdam: Lund Humphries Publishers Ltd; 1999 Conservation of the Amsterdam sunflowers: from past to future Van Gogh’s sunflowers illuminated art meets science Amsterdam: Amsterdam University Press/Van Gogh Museum Amsterdam; 2019 Optical coherence tomography: technology and applications Optical coherence tomography technology and applications Cham Heidelberg New York Dordrecht London: Springer; 2015 Targowski P, Kowalska M, Sylwestrzak M, Iwanicka M. OCT for examination of cultural heritage objects. In: Wang MR, editor. Optical coherence tomography and its non-medical applications. London: IntechOpen; 2020. p. 147–64. https://doi.org/10.5772/intechopen.88215 The painting technique of The Potato Eaters Ploeger R, Scalarone D, Chiantore O. The characterization of commercial artists’ alkyd paints. J Cult Herit. 2008;9(4):412–9. doi:https://doi.org/10.1016/j.culher.2008.01.007 Rampazzi L, Brunello V, Corti C, Lissoni E. Non-invasive techniques for revealing the palette of the Romantic painter Francesco Hayez. Spectrochim Acta Part A Mol Biomol Spectrosc. 2017;176:142–54. doi:https://doi.org/10.1016/j.saa.2017.01.011 A Closer Look: Technical and Art-Historical Studies on Works by Van Gogh and Gauguin A closer look: technical and art-historical studies on works by Van Gogh and Gauguin Baij L, Liu C, Buijs J, Alvarez Martin A, Westert D, Raven L, et al. Understanding and optimizing Evolon® CR for varnish removal from oil paintings. Herit Sci. 2021;9(1):155. doi:https://doi.org/10.1186/s40494-021-00627-9 Download references The authors would like to thank Heleen van Driel at the Van Gogh Museum for providing all technical imaging of the overall painting Results obtained within MOLAB Transnational Access Project VAN GOGH RETURNS (project leader Kathrin Pilz) within the EU H2020 Project IPERION CH 654028 and continued under the EU H2020 Project IPERION HS 871034 and conducted with the partial use of the facilities at Italian and Polish nodes of the European Research Infrastructure for Heritage Science (E-RIHS) Present address: Institute of Materials and Constructions University of Applied Sciences and Arts of Southern Switzerland (SUPSI) Istituto CNR di Scienze e Tecnologie Chimiche “G.Natta” (CNR-SCITEC) Cultural Heritage Agency of the Netherlands Istituto CNR di le Scienze del Patrimonio Culturale (CNR-ISPC) MI contributed to the concept and writing of the paper; the acquisition and has drafted the paper and approved the submitted version analysis and interpretation of the FTIR data collected in situ and in laboratory on the cotton swabs KP examined the painting technique and condition of Congregation Leaving the Reformed Church in Nuenen initiated and oversaw the scientific investigation and analysis in her role as project leader and carried out the (monitored) cleaning tests as well as the actual restoration of the painting writing and revision of this paper and approved the submitted version BD contributed to the acquisition of the FTIR data collected in situ revised the paper and approved the submitted version LC and CM contributed to the development of the methodology for the non-invasive cleaning monitoring by portable FTIR and for the laboratory analyses of the cotton swabs they have revised the paper and approved the submitted version MG performed and interpreted the XRF-analysis on the painting and the OM and SEM-EDS on the paint sample She contributed to the writing of the paper and approved the submitted version SG performed FTIR-ATR analysis on the paint sample analysis and creation of new software used for OCT data as well as to the concept All authors have agreed both to be personally accountable for the authors’ own contributions and to ensure that questions related to the accuracy or integrity of any part of the work even ones in which the author was not personally involved and the resolution documented in the literature All authors read and approved the final manuscript The authors declare that they have no competing interests Springer Nature remains neutral with regard to jurisdictional claims in published maps and institutional affiliations Congregation Leaving the Reformed Church in Nuenen spots of examination by portable X-ray fluorescence spectrometer Identification of elements by means of X-ray fluorescence spectrometry unless otherwise stated in a credit line to the data Download citation DOI: https://doi.org/10.1186/s40494-022-00789-0 Anyone you share the following link with will be able to read this content: Sorry, a shareable link is not currently available for this article. Sign up for the Nature Briefing newsletter — what matters in science, free to your inbox daily. The Parsonage garden at Nuenen in Spring (1884) © Groninger Museum photo by Marten de LeeuwVan Gogh’s painting The Parsonage garden at Nuenen in Spring has been recovered just over three years after it was stolen in Laren in a smash-and-grab raid The return was negotiated a few days ago by the Dutch private art detective Arthur Brand a small square off Amsterdam’s Prisengracht Canal The Van Gogh was handed over in an Ikea bag It is believed that those holding the Van Gogh were hoping to use it to barter for the release of a prisoner View this post on Instagram A post shared by Arthur Brand (@arthurbrandartdetective) Almost exactly a year later, in April 2021, a suspect was arrested He was found guilty of stealing both the Van Gogh and a Frans Hals painting from a museum in Leerdam and was sentenced to eight years imprisonment The Parsonage garden at Nuenen in Spring is temporarily being held at the Van Gogh Museum in Amsterdam. Blühm says the painting (oil on paper on panel) “has suffered”, although at first glance it is “still in good condition”. It will now be properly examined and any necessary conservation work undertaken, which will take “weeks, if not months”, before it goes back on display at the Groninger Museum. The insurer has already paid the museum the value of the Van Gogh, so the company is now the formal owner of the painting. But under the usual arrangements, the museum has the first right to buy it back. A museum spokesperson says they will “of course use this right in order to show the work to the public”. blog15 September 2023Recovering the stolen Van Gogh: the museum director recalls the emotional momentSeized in a violent raid in 2020 returned in a blue Ikea bag—now being bought back from the insurer blog9 April 2021Dutch police arrest over Van Gogh smash-and-grab raid: how long until the landscape is recovered?The suspect is linked to a Frans Hals theft, which should help track down paintings from two museums The municipality of Nuenen has planted a tree to honour the Ukrainian refugees who have been residing in the Vrouwkesakker building for the past three years. Despite the pouring rain, a ceremony was held on Monday afternoon where Anna and Lisa, both twelve years old, unveiled the sign at the tree. They expressed their happiness that the municipality acknowledges the Ukrainian community. “It means respect”, said Lisa. Save my name, email, and website in this browser for the next time I comment. Δdocument.getElementById( "ak_js_1" ).setAttribute( "value", ( new Date() ).getTime() ); showing an earlier composition of the old church tower and cemetery which was overpainted Credit: Museum Boijmans Van Beuningen Adventures with Van Gogh is a weekly blog by Martin Bailey The Art Newspaper's long-standing correspondent and expert on the Dutch painter stories range from newsy items about this most intriguing artist to scholarly pieces based on meticulous investigations and discoveries Explore all of Martin’s adventures with Van Gogh here Poplars near Nuenen, the first Van Gogh to be acquired by a Dutch museum, is to be restored. This will offer an unusual opportunity to investigate two intriguing questions surrounding this important landscape. Why did Vincent reuse the canvas and paint over an earlier composition of Nuenen’s old church tower and the cemetery where where his father had been buried And although most of the later landscape of poplars was completed in the Dutch village did he retouch it a few months later in Paris adding brighter colours after encountering the work of the Impressionists Van Gogh’s Poplars near Nuenen (November 1885 and possibly spring 1886) Credit: Museum Boijmans Van Beuningen Rotterdam’s Museum Boijmans Van Beuningen has just been awarded a €25,000 TEFAF Museum Restoration Fund award to study and conserve Poplars near Nuenen This project should reveal much more about one of Van Gogh’s finest Dutch landscapes When Van Gogh planned Poplars near Nuenen in late October 1885 he conceived it as “a symphony in yellow” It depicts an avenue of trees on the outskirts of the village where his family lived Two women stroll along a track and a man seems to be sweeping up autumn leaves An X-ray image of Poplars near Nuenen reveals that beneath the composition Vincent had originally painted a close-up view of the tower of the old church It included several crosses in the adjacent cemetery where his father was to be buried after his sudden death in March 1885 It is curious that Vincent painted over this scene just seven months after his father had died Vincent’s reasons may well have been purely pragmatic He probably reused the canvas to save money painting over the church and cemetery with the landscape of poplars Vincent made a small sketch of it for his brother Theo the artist described the composition as “an autumn landscape The church tower of the earlier composition reappears in the distance of the later landscape Van Gogh’s sketch of Poplars near Nuenen in his letter to Theo around 17 November 1885 Credit: Van Gogh Museum Three weeks after completing Poplars near Nuenen after relations had deteriorated with his family but it failed to sell and was quickly returned It was there that Vincent discovered the work of the Impressionists which had a profound impact on his own work Abandoning the dark tones of his Dutch paintings he experimented boldly with the use of colour This ultimately led to Van Gogh becoming the colourist that we know and love After the deaths of Vincent and Theo in 1890 and 1891 Poplars near Nuenen passed to the artist’s sister-in-law Jo Bonger who sold it in 1903 for the equivalent of £60 The picture was bought by “26 art friends” and they presented it to the Rotterdam museum Investigative work on Poplars near Nuenen has just begun in the Museum Boijmans Van Beuningen’s conservation studio Van Gogh’s Poplars near Nuenen in the studio of the Museum Boijmans Van Beuningen with conservator Erika Smeenk-Metz Credit: Museum Boijmans Van Beuningen with a long-standing problem of lifting paint and numerous small losses Van Gogh did not allow the original image of the church to properly dry before he painted his second composition There are now conservation problems galore The old varnish has become very discoloured In the upper left there is a 10cm vertical crack through both the paint and canvas (which is clearly visible on the x-ray) the museum’s head of collections and research admits that if nothing is done “the risk of damage is very high” The main purpose of the treatment will be to stabilise the painting This should also make it safer to lend to outside exhibitions Removal of the discoloured varnish will hopefully mean that Van Gogh’s colours appear brighter and stronger Specialists believe that the blue paint strokes that stand out on the sky near the horizon and the light touches in the trees may well have been added after Van Gogh’s arrival in France These additions bring the darkened composition to life During the restoration it should be possible to determine whether these brighter touches of colour were indeed painted in Paris It may also be possible to determine if the painting was signed in Nuenen or Paris (it can just be made out The artist only occasionally added his signature “Vincent” usually when he was really satisfied with a painting Before conservation work starts on Poplars near Nuenen it will be displayed at TEFAF in Maastricht in the south of the Netherlands (25–30 June) Conservation work is scheduled to begin a few months after that probably involving the careful removal of old varnish The restored painting is then likely to go back on display at the Rotterdam museum early next year Martin Bailey is a leading Van Gogh specialist and special correspondent for The Art Newspaper He has curated exhibitions at the Barbican Art Gallery Compton Verney/National Gallery of Scotland and Tate Britain To contact Martin Bailey, please email vangogh@theartnewspaper.com Please note that he does not undertake authentications Explore all of Martin’s adventures with Van Gogh here which has just been acquired by Rotterdam’s art museum blog11 October 2024Van Gogh’s postman: the artist's favourite portrait subject to be explored in Boston and Amsterdam showsVincent described his friend as having “a big blog11 September 2020Which is the only museum in the world actively buying up Van Goghs? It’s in the hometown of Hieronymus BoschThe Noordbrabants Museum’s latest acquisition is Head of a Woman bought privately for €1.6m through Christie’s received the municipal medal of honour in silver on the occasion of its fiftieth anniversary deputy Mayor Sandor Löwik and chairman Wil Fortanier planted a walnut tree on Aloysiushof The walnut originally comes from Anatolia and was brought to the Netherlands by the Romans a member of IVN (Instituut voor Natuurbeschermingseducatie) which will eventually be placed next to the tree Löwik praised the many activities and the great services of the association to the community He then presented the silver medal of honour to chairman Fortanier IVN also had a gift for Brabants Landschap (Brabant landscape): a check for ‘fifty square metres’ This can be used to purchase a piece of nature reserve in the future Source: Studio040 Van Gogh’s The Parsonage Garden at Nuenen in Spring (March 1884) was seized in a nighttime smash-and-grab raid in 2020 from an exhibition in Laren It had been on loan from the Groninger Museum where it has been one of the stars of the collection since its acquisition in 1962 The Van Gogh landscape was insured for €2.5m Last September the painting was dramatically recovered by the Dutch private art detective Arthur Brand as a result of his contacts with an intermediary who had links to the criminal underworld The painting was delivered to Brand’s Amsterdam home in a blue plastic Ikea bag the Van Gogh picture has survived remarkably well partly because it was mounted on an oak board Before the latest examination it had always been assumed that it had been painted on paper (affixed to the board) but conservator Marjan de Visser immediately spotted that it is on linen this basic fact had apparently not been realised earlier De Visser found some damage and scratching to the old varnish coating occasionally penetrating through the paint layer to the white ground (one such place is just below the figure of the woman) The remaining varnish is likely to be removed although a final decision has yet to be made was created when he was living with his parents in the village of Nuenen It depicts the back garden of his father’s parsonage with the tower of the old church in the distance Van Gogh began the painting as a winter scene also making an ink sketch in which the trees are bare he wrote to say that “it’s already a spring garden—by now And it’s changed a lot.” In the painting he added foliage to the trees and even a little blossom The recovered Van Gogh will be presented so that the reverse is also visible We can report that the Ikea bag will also be displayed since this object is now part of the painting’s story The actual restoration will probably begin early next year In the meantime, the Groninger Museum will be presenting a special exhibition, unrelated to the theft. The show, How Van Gogh Came to Groningen (30 November-5 May 2025), will recount the story of one of the earliest exhibitions on the artist, held in the city in 1896. The picture will be exhibited on their stand at the Tefaf Maastricht art fair (public days 9-14 March).Martin Bailey is a leading Van Gogh specialist and special correspondent for The Art Newspaper blog9 April 2021Dutch police arrest over Van Gogh smash-and-grab raid: how long until the landscape is recovered?The suspect is linked to a Frans Hals theft which should help track down paintings from two museums news12 September 2023'Handed over in an Ikea bag': art detective recovers Van Gogh painting stolen from Dutch museumThree years ago 'The Parsonage garden at Nuenen in Spring' was taken in a smash-and-grab raid in Laren Police have arrested three men in an investigation into a stabbing in Nuenen last Sunday The police are still in the dark about why the stabbing took place That fateful Sunday morning around half past eight the victim was stabbed on the Collse Hoefdijk in Nuenen He managed to flee and reach a gas station near the Berenkuil in Eindhoven The man was then taken to hospital by ambulance The victim’s current condition is unknown The police say the investigation will continue after the arrests Residents of Geldrop-Mierlo and Nuenen who have opposed the arrival of a large distribution centre at Eeneind-West still have a small chance that the distribution centre will not come This was announced by the province of Noord-Brabant The province has announced that the application for the nitrogen permit is still being processed This is stated in the provincial government’s answers to questions from the PVV The province is currently not issuing nitrogen permits due to the poor state of nature in the province Whether or not the permit for building on Eeneind-West will ultimately be granted is not yet clear It is also a matter of waiting to see when more clarity will be provided the province’s new nitrogen policy must first be successfully rolled out and its effects must be proven The nitrogen dossier is the last straw that residents of Nuenen and Geldrop-Mierlo can hold on to The villages are not waiting for a distribution centre and all the traffic that it entails The municipality of Nuenen is currently busy studying all objections to the plan the owner of the land in Eeneind-West is fully within his rights which means that the municipality of Nuenen where the distribution centre is to be built Another way out would be if an alternative the same good location and with the right zoning plan the temporary refugee shelter in the inner garden of town hall is currently being dismantled Fifty asylum seekers stayed here for half a year Temporary housing units stood in the courtyard for six months The refugees have now moved to the shelter on Ekkersrijt in Son Once the housing units have been taken down the courtyard of the Nuenen town hall in will be restored to its original state In addition to the municipality and the Centraal orgaan Opvang Asielzoekers (central agency for the reception of asylum seekers) the LEV group* and many volunteers were also involved in the temporary shelter Source: Studio040 *LEV group: they inspire people to participate in society and thus contribute to people’s happiness and well-being It is an accessible welfare organisation for all residents they work on a society with resilient neighbourhoods Dutch art detective Arthur Brand with Van Gogh’s The Parsonage garden at Nuenen in Spring (March 1884) was having lunch in an Amsterdam café on Monday when the call came through with an apparently mundane message: “You can come over now.” director of the Groninger Museum since 2012 when a thief broke through the glass door of the public entrance In April 2021, Dutch police had arested Nils M. who was later sentenced to eight years imprisonment for stealing the Van Gogh and also a Frans Hals painting had been stolen from the Hofje van Mevrouw van Aerden museum in Leerdam on 26 August 2020 Having to deal with an art theft is every museum director’s worst nightmare There was also a false start early last year when another contact (not Brand) had suggested that a recovery was imminent It was on 7 September this year that Brand, a highly successful art recover specialist who had long been on the trail told Blühm to come to Amsterdam four days later The museum director was instructed to wait in a café which was two blocks from the art detective’s apartment Blühm did not have much of an appetite that day so it hardly mattered that he had not quite finished lunch when the call came through By this time Brand had made a quick inspection of the painting Although he had put aside a pair of gloves to inspect the painting without adding his own fingerprints in the heat of the moment these were forgotten and he simply held it up The museum director arrived a few minutes later Blühm had worked at the Van Gogh Museum in 1993-2005 and the telltale exhibition labels on the reverse were there Nearby in Brand’s apartment was the large blue Ikea bag in which it had been handed over along with the pillow which had been inside in a clumsy attempt to protect the fragile painting The recovery by Brand was organised in conjunction with the Art Crime Unit of the Dutch police It is believed that police officers were stationed in and around his apartment when the intermediary arrived on his doorstep a police source says that they did not identify the intermediary or speak with him Brand told The Art Newspaper that as far as he knows He says that he has “no idea” where the Van Gogh has been; his task was to encourage the intermediary to return it This was probably done for a variety of motives: there was little to be gained by holding onto the picture the person regretted it had been lost by a public collection and he probably felt antagonistic towards the thief The intermediary asked where the painting should be delivered with Brand responding “my home would be best” Blühm phoned the head of conservation at the Van Gogh Museum saying that he would be delivering "a stolen Van Gogh"—and he would be bringing it along very shortly The Van Gogh Museum’s immediate examination showed that the painting (oil on paper on panel) has suffered some cracks although one crack in the lower centre (just below the figure of the woman) will need to be retouched which was paid out by the insurance company to the Groninger Museum last year The painting therefore belongs to the insurers The museum now has the right to buy back Van Gogh back for that sum after the formalities and payment arrangements have been made with part of the back garden and the extension which once served as Van Gogh’s studio depicts a view from the back garden of the house of Vincent’s parents using a small side extension of their home as his studio Vincent van Gogh's The Parsonage garden at Nuenen in Spring (March 1884) © Groninger Museum (photograph by Marten de Leeuw) The view in the painting is from just outside Van Gogh’s studio Beyond this lay fields and then the tower of the old church The body of the church had been demolished a few decades earlier and the tower would be pulled down a year later Detail of Van Gogh’s The Parsonage garden at Nuenen in Spring (March 1884) The woman in black in the painting remains a mystery so it is unlikely to be Vincent’s elderly mother Anna But it is also possible that she represents Vincent’s sweetheart Margot Begemann to the concern of both sets of parents who thought they were a most unsuitable couple The relationship ended when Margot made a failed attempt at suicide One morning in September 1884 they were walking quite possible in the fields just beyond the parsonage Vincent quickly discovered that she had swallowed the poison strychnine and got her to vomit A doctor was summoned and administered an antidote The Parsonage garden at Nuenen in Spring could be a depiction of Margot and the landscape where they soon courted which was committed this week on the artist’s birthday blog9 February 2024The Van Gogh painting that was stolen—and recovered in an Ikea bag—goes on showResearch reveals that the artist began the work as a winter scene and transformed it into a spring landscape news12 September 2023'Handed over in an Ikea bag': art detective recovers Van Gogh painting stolen from Dutch museumThree years ago, 'The Parsonage garden at Nuenen in Spring' was taken in a smash-and-grab raid in Laren Please enable JS and disable any ad blocker 2023 The Noord-Brabant village of Nuenen is a fairly unremarkable Dutch settlement with some attractive houses and pretty surrounding scenery – apart from one key thing Vincent van Gogh lived in the town for a time as a young man and that has put Nuenen into a different league Van Gogh went to Nuenen to live with his parents once again from December 1883 to November 1885 writing to his brother Theo that “And the Brabant one has dreamed of reality sometimes comes very close to it … I must confess that it strongly attracts me again.” The town is all out Van Gogh – from a bronze version of the Potato Eaters on the village green Town officials and art lovers have been very crafty in making the most of what was a short-lived connection Our visit coincided with Nuenen’s annual blues festival given its influence on his early work and the fact he painted his favourite work If you are simply curious about Van Gogh’s time in the Netherlands you will find plenty to entertain you as well Visit the Van Gogh Village Museum The Van Gogh Village Museum re-opened in April after a major extension and renovation and aims to take visitors on a journey through the misunderstood painter’s times and techniques when he lived in the region but the museum does its best to tell the Brabant side of his story through other artifacts It also includes a recreation of the Potato Eaters room for selfie fans and contemporary art exhibitions, including photography inspired by Van Gogh. There is plenty of hands on stuff for children to do as well. Read our earlier article about the museum. Walk the Van Gogh walk At the museum you can also pick up a map for the Van Gogh walk around the village which takes you past a number of key landmarks including the house where the Potato Eaters was painted and the tiny church where his father was pastor The walk starts opposite the museum at the parsonage where his parents lived If you walk down the narrow alley you can peek through the hedge at the old cowshed where Van Gogh slept and worked – his parents apparently banned him from the house because he was so difficult The route, which covers around four kilometres, is a little tricky to follow at times so keep your wits about you. There is also a longer, 10 kilometer walking route around Nuenen for keener ramblers Visit the Van Gogh-inspired Starry Night bike path Between Nuenen and Eindhoven you can find the 600 metre Starry Night bike path installed by artist Daan Rosengaarde which takes cyclists and walkers along a route studded with thousands of twinkling stones You need to visit at dusk or when dark to get the best effect The bike path forms part of a longer route past some of the key landmarks and inspiration during Van Gogh’s Brabant period. There are actually 10 separate routes covering a total of 435 kilometres so cycling fans have no reason to be bored the Parkhotel Auberge Vincent on the edge of the village green We stayed in a fairly basic room in the basement and were lucky to find that The town also has a sprinkling of B&Bs to choose from Nearby Eindhoven would make a fine alternative base if you have a car or are close to the railway station Where to eat Nuenen is well served by cafes and restaurants but all seem to close fairly early in the evening Many are located around the village green and serve the usual selection of ribs and burgers You also have a couple of Chinese eateries to choose from We had dinner at Olijf, close to the museum, which was friendly, delicious, and big city prices. Nuenen is also home to De Lindehof, which has two Michelin stars if you really want to push the boat out. How to get there The drive from Amsterdam takes about 90 minutes and there is plenty of parking in the village. There are also regular trains from Eindhoven. Anything else? As much of the entertainment in Nuenen and its surroundings is outdoors, it is not the best place to visit if it is cold and wet. The blues festival takes place on the Whitsun weekend. We could not provide the Dutch News service, and keep it free of charge, without the generous support of our readers. Your donations allow us to report on issues you tell us matter, and provide you with a summary of the most important Dutch news each day. Many thanks to everyone who has donated to DutchNews.nl in recent days! We could not provide this service without you. If you have not yet made a contribution, you can do so here. Please help us making DutchNews.nl a better read by taking part in a short survey. on loan from the municipality of Groningen The Van Gogh smash-and-grab raid on the Singer museum in Laren on Monday came as a shock which has killed over 1,000 people in the Netherlands it may have seemed astonishing that criminals should target art But an Interpol spokesperson commented that the theft is “more proof that criminals don't take breaks and will use any situation to their advantage” Very early on Monday morning, at 3.15am, thieves broke through the glass door of the public entrance to the Singer Laren complex but by the time police arrived the criminals and The Parsonage Garden at Nuenen in Spring (1884) were gone The thieves were in and out within just a few minutes they almost certainly disguised their appearance but no details have yet been released by the police Detectives are obviously now considering whether it was a coincidence that the thieves struck after the museum was closed on 12 March because of coronavirus The thieves may have believed that the building would be more vulnerable: some overnight security staff might have been off the premises; those working there would have had to keep a distance from each other; and police might have been hard-pressed dealing with coronavirus issues It was also poignant that the theft took place on the artist’s birthday Could it be that the brazen thieves were making a point and hoping to maximise international publicity about their heist The Parsonage Garden at Nuenen in Spring was painted in March 1884 It depicts the view of the back garden of his father’s parsonage The parsonage and garden still survive in Nuenen although the church tower was demolished a year after the painting was completed In 1962 the painting was donated by Jan Willem Moll to the municipality of Groningen, in the far north of the Netherlands, and has since been displayed at the Groninger Museum Earlier this year The Parsonage Garden at Nuenen in Spring was lent to the Singer Laren museum for an exhibition on art of around 1900 entitled Mirror of the Soul: Toorop to Mondriaan (which was scheduled to end on 10 May) As the Van Gogh was the only painting seized in the raid view of the 2017 entrance building Courtesy of Singer Laren The Singer Laren’s permanent collection comprises the donated art of the deceased American couple They lived in Laren (25km east of Amsterdam) an important artists’ colony in the late-19th and early-20th centuries the present entrance building was only completed three years ago so it ought to have had state-of-the-art security (although it is worrying that the glass front door could be broken) Van Gogh painted The Parsonage Garden at Nuenen in Spring with oil on paper The painting is 57 cm wide and was displayed in an ornate golden frame A few words of advice to the criminals: the picture may be stronger than a work on canvas but the wooden panel is vulnerable to changes in humidity The Hague dealer Ivo Bouwman told us that he values the Van Gogh at around €1.5m but of course this is its open market valuation and it cannot be sold legitimately The thieves may try to use it as “currency” in the underworld although its value would be well under a tenth of what it would fetch on the open market We understand that the loan was not covered by Dutch government indemnity, so it is likely to be commercially insured (although neither museum is commenting on this). A reward for information leading to a recovery may well be announced shortly. Anyone with information should contact the Netherlands police the possibility of an immediate recovery has now passed but most major stolen works of art do eventually surface Vincent van Gogh’s View of the Sea at Scheveningen (1882) and Congregation Leaving the Reformed Church in Nuenen (1884-85) on display at the Van Gogh Museum after their recovery and conservation Courtesy of the Van Gogh Museum The Netherlands has faced a disastrous series of Van Gogh thefts in recent decades: • In 1988 Vase with Carnations (1886) was stolen from Amsterdam’s Stedelijk Museum • Later in 1988 three major paintings were seized from the Kröller-Müller Museum in Otterlo: Loom with Weaver (1884) the oil sketch of The Potato Eaters (1885) and Four Sunflowers Gone to Seed (1887) • In 1990 three Van Goghs were stolen from the Noordbrabants Museum in Den Bosch: Watermill at Gennep (1884) Sitting peasant Woman (1885) and Peasant Woman Digging (1885) • In 1991 thieves stole 20 paintings from the Van Gogh Museum This was probably the most serious art theft since the Second World War (arguably a greater haul than that seized from Boston’s Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum the previous year) Fortunately all the Van Goghs were quickly recovered from an abandoned getaway vehicle • In 1999 The Willow (1885) was stolen from the office of the Van Lanschot bank in Den Bosch • In 2002 two paintings were stolen from the Van Gogh Museum View of the Sea at Scheveningen (1882) and Congregation Leaving the Reformed Church in Nuenen (1884-85) were eventually recovered should offer hope that The Parsonage Garden at Nuenen in Spring will eventually return to its home in Groningen • Plans are being drawn upon to designate part of the southern Netherlands as the Van Gogh National Park and include the villages where Van Gogh once lived: Zundert with Van Gogh’s Self-portrait (March-June 1887) © Brass Band Nuenen archive and Van Gogh Museum In 1884 Vincent van Gogh helped set up a band in the village of Nuenen where he was living with his family and developing his skills as an artist His name has been discovered among the 68 honorary members who established the musical group known as Harmonie de Vooruitgang (Harmony of Progress) which would sometimes march through the village streets gave their first performance at a golden wedding celebration in March 1885 Register of honorary members of the Harmony of Progress band It is now very rare to uncover fresh documentary evidence about the artist’s life, but the 1885 record of the band’s first honorary members lists “V. van Gogh” as number 64. The discovery was made by Arie van Kuijk Van Kuijk found the register in the band’s archive which is housed in the Catholic rectory of Nuenen now almost a suburb of the city of Eindhoven in the south of the Netherlands He was astonished to come across the name since so many colleagues had advised that “there is no point in looking for Vincent in the band’s archive because it has been properly checked” The discovery of the register is significant because it suggests that the image we have of Van Gogh as “an outsider” in Nuenen may be something of a myth honorary members of the band were supposed to be “reasonably well-to-do and of impeccable behaviour” putting him “in the upper echelon of Nuenen society” Honorary band members were obliged to make financial contributions twice a year relying on an allowance from his brother Theo Ton de Brouwer, a distinguished expert on Van Gogh’s Nuenen period who helped establish the local Vincentre visitor centre believes that the artist was probably nominated for membership by Johannes Schafrat Although Van Gogh apparently never played in the band during his Nuenen period he did take piano lessons from Hein van der Zande Vincent was “was always comparing painting with music and so as to get a better understanding of the gradation of tones he started to take piano lessons with an old music teacher” But Vincent did not prove to be a good student As Kerssemakers added: “During the lessons Van Gogh kept comparing the notes of the piano with Prussian blue and dark green or dark ochre to bright cadmium and so the poor man thought he must be dealing with a madman and became so afraid of him that he stopped the lessons.” Three years later Vincent mentioned his efforts in a letter to Theo saying that in Nuenen he had “made a vain attempt to learn music” since he strongly felt the connection between the colours in his paintings “and Wagner’s music” A few years later he wrote to his sister Wil that “one can speak poetry just by arranging colours well just as one can say comforting things in music” Vincent always regretted his lack of success in music: “Someone who can really play the violin or piano is He picks up his violin and starts to play and a whole gathering enjoys it all evening long The band which Van Gogh helped establish in 1885 still survives, now renamed (and with its title in English) Brass Band Nuenen Van Kuijk has been their bass trombonist for 44 years blog8 October 2021Van Gogh’s Potato Eaters: Mistake or Masterpiece?Amsterdam museum opens exhibition on Vincent’s early painting of a peasant family gathered for a meal Photo from Heijmans On Wednesday evening in the Dutch town of Nuenen, a bike path glowed in the twilight. It wasn’t the result of a kid’s birthday party or nuclear accident, though. The path is the first step toward a long-sought goal of illuminating roads and highways with solar-powered materials The path is coated in photoluminescent paint that’s also embedded with small LEDs powered by nearby solar panels The path essentially charges all day so that it can glow during the night and it also has backup power in case it’s overcast Roosegaarde told Dezeen that the special illumination of the path is “more gentle to the eye and surrounding nature,” and creates a “connection with cultural history.” He also noted, “It’s a new total system that is self-sufficient and practical, and just incredibly poetic.” both works have been recovered by police and are on view to the public So how did View of the Sea at Scheveningen (1882) and Congregation Leaving the Reformed Church in Nuenen (1884–85) get nabbed in the first place How did they end up in a mafia safehouse in Italy And what did one of the thieves reveal in a new tell-all documentary It happened in just three minutes and 40 seconds, the New York Times reported Octave Durham and Henk Bieslijn used a ladder to scale the side of the Van Gogh Museum and took two nearby paintings from the gallery they had entered created before van Gogh had arrived at his signature style One was a seascape from the artist’s time spent in the Hague as the artist had primarily devoted himself to drawing up until that time depicting the church where the artist’s father was a pastor was meant to be a gift for van Gogh’s mother Given that these paintings had never hit the open market, their value remains difficult to ascertain. One estimate, made at the time of the theft by the museum’s then-managing director, put the pair at a combined $4 million One of the mysteries following the original heist surrounded the decision to take these particular paintings. Some burglars—like the notorious “Spider-Man” thief who was sentenced last month—consider themselves connoisseurs But in a new documentary focusing on Durham that aired on Dutch TV the same day the van Gogh paintings went on view the thief said he simply took the two works because they were the smallest in the room As the pair escaped by rappelling down a rope out of a museum window Durham hit the ground with such force that he damaged a corner of View of the Sea at Scheveningen Visitors to the Van Gogh Museum today can see the damage to the work (both are displayed sans-frame and will be restored following the conclusion of their exhibition on May 14th) Durham monitored the responding officers on a police scanner and was able to get away by taking off his ski mask before he drove by them “It’s the worst thing that can happen to any museum that a property is stolen, but for any museum it’s a risk,” former museum director John Leighton said of the the thefts which occurred just one year before the institution celebrated the artist’s 150th birthday Durham and Bieslijn began work to sell the paintings Selling looted art is notoriously difficult given that it can’t appear on the open market one person to whom Durham tried to sell the painting was shot and murdered on the day of the arranged sale in a killing unrelated to the works of art was identified for reportedly paying €350,000 for the paintings in March of 2003 He sent the works to Italy shortly after purchasing them while Durham and his accomplice blew through the profits in six weeks The thieves’ extravagant spending tipped off police who were already on their trail he escaped by climbing up the side of his building; in the process he earned the nickname “the Monkey.” In December of 2003 cops caught up with Durham at a Spanish resort town and matched his DNA with that of a baseball cap left behind at the museum Restorer Kathrin Pilz researches Congregation Leaving the Reformed Church in Nuenen under the microscope and never revealed the whereabouts of the van Gogh paintings then sent back to prison for a failed bank robbery Durham was required to pay the museum €350,000 for the paintings (Durham managed to cough up under a fifth of what he owed.) He approached the Van Gogh Museum in 2013 about helping to find the works but they broke off talks after it appeared that Durham wanted compensation for assisting in recovery efforts why the museum takes umbrage with the spotlight the documentary shines on Durham who is now freed from the burden of his crime The film’s creator Vincent Verweij said that Durham has not been paid and even confessed to the crime via text Rüger told the Times that “the museum is the victim in this case and I would expect very different behavior from someone who shows remorse.” Even as the FBI listed the theft as one of its “Top Ten Art Crimes,” the works remained missing for years Then Imperiale found himself in some legal hot water He has avoided some 20 years of prison time requested by Italian prosecutors for a myriad of crimes Marra told the Times that investigators had already been looking into rumors that he possessed the works (the letter did nothing by way of currying favor or reducing the sentence) Italian police raided the house of Imperiale’s mother as part of an investigation into the cocaine-trafficking Amato Pagano clan of the Camorra Mafia family They confiscated some $20 million in assets hidden between two walls and wrapped in cloth missing frames but otherwise in good condition Police in the Netherlands credited their Italian counterparts with recovering the works and the pieces went on view for three weeks at the National Museum of Capodimonte in Naples Axel Rüger (Director of the Van Gogh Museum) next to the paintings during the conference in Naples on February 6 Durham and his accomplice stole works that remained hidden from view for 14 years “The homecoming of the recovered paintings means that our collection is once again complete,” he said as he unveiled the works “And we can close the door on this particularly painful period in our history.” An x-ray of one of Vincent van Gogh’s landscapes has shown how the artist covered up a painting of his father’s graveyard to create his new work the first Van Gogh to be acquired by a Dutch museum was x-rayed as part of a £20,000 restoration project to stop paint flaking Hidden beneath the scene of two women walking along a tree-lined avenue is Van Gogh’s study of Nuenen’s old church tower and the cemetery where Theodorus van Gogh The old church tower and cemetery in Nuenen where Theodorus van Gogh had recently been buriedThe artist is thought to have painted the underlying image in 1884, before his father’s unexpected death in March 1885. Van Gogh then painted the new landscape over the top in October 1885 Colossal Do stories and artists like this matter to you? Become a Colossal Member now Join more than 200,000 subscribers and get the best of art and visual culture from Colossal Copyright © 2025 Colossal. See our Terms of Service and Privacy Policy Vincent van Gogh’s birthday was celebrated in an unusual way this year his painting Parsonage Garden at Neunen in Spring was stolen from a Dutch museum which had been closed due to the coronavirus pandemic Van Gogh’s stolen work Parsonage Garden at Neunen in Spring The painting was stolen from the Singer Laren museum The painting was seized from the Singer Laren museum in Laren a town approximately 30 minutes away from the southeastern side of Amsterdam In an effort to contain the spread of COVID-19 They have put a stop to their exhibition titled “Mirror of the Soul” which showcased over 70 masterpieces from 19th century Holland The thieves smashed the museum’s front glass door at around 3 am and took The Parsonage Garden at Nuenen in Spring the police did not arrive in time to catch the thieves Art detectives and investigators have started their investigation but have yet to find out if the thieves took other works from the museum the van Gogh painting that was stolen on the artist's 167th birthday is priced at approximately €6m The thieves broke in through the museum’s front door Vincent van Gogh (1853-1890) started painting at the age of 27 but passed away when he was 37 All of his works were created in merely 10 years a small village in the North Brabant district of the Netherlands Van Gogh's paintings were not popular in his lifetime Although an art gallery from Paris showed interest in his works they did not proceed to purchase his paintings or hold exhibitions for him Van Gogh blamed his younger brother Theo for not promoting his paintings Theo paid no attention to van Gogh’s criticism He instead dispraised van Gogh’s work by saying that his use of colours was too dark compared to popular Impressionist works at that time Little did people know- van Gogh's unique Nuenen paintings are now some of the most sought-after works.  the stolen painting measures at 25 x 57cm and was painted in Nuenen The work’s gloomy colours form a stark contrast with van Gogh’s later paintings which are bright and colourful The paintings below are two of his Nuenen period works which were sold respectively at Christie’s New York and Sotheby’s London for US$1.92m and £1.09m Editor’s note: Another van Gogh painting from the Nuenen period sold for only £4 when it first appeared in the market. It recently sold for €15m at the TEFAF Maastricht art fair. For more details, please read: “A Van Gogh Painting That Sold for £4 at a Farm Sale Is Now Worth €15m”. Oude Toren bij Zonsondergang from van Gogh’s Nuenen period sold for US$1.92m at Christie’s New York in 2014 Peasant Woman Seated from van Gogh’s Nuenen period sold for £1.09m at Sotheby’s London in 2020 Another van Gogh painting from the Nuenen period sold for only £4 when it first appeared in the market It recently sold for €15m at the TEFAF Maastricht art fair Van Gogh created many works in Nuenen but it is perhaps one of the darkest periods in his life He fell in love with a neighbour’s daughter but due to the opposition from their parents they did not end up together The girl committed suicide but survived after being rushed to the hospital by van Gogh Van Gogh’s father also died of a heart attack during his time in Nuenen The artist then left Nuenen and moved to Belgium and then France Van Gogh’s Nuenen period paintings have always been popular with art thieves two of the artist's paintings were stolen from the Van Gogh Museum in Amsterdam One of which was Congregation Leaving the Reformed Church in Nuenen Van Gogh created the painting in 1884 for his mother while she was confined to her house with a broken leg featuring his father's small church as the subject the artist’s father passed away so he made alterations to the painting- the congregation changed into mourning clothes and leaves fell from trees the Italian government recovered the painting from Naples and sent it back to the Van Gogh museum The stolen painting today is believed to be a painting of van Gogh's father's vicarage garden Congregation Leaving the Reformed Church in Nuenen was stolen and recovered The Singer Laren museum showcases the collection of American artist William Henry Singer (1868-1943) and his wife seven statues were stolen from the museum’s garden including Auguste Rodin’s (1840-1917) The Thinker The statue was found a few days later but was seriously damaged The looted van Gogh work does not belong to the Singer Laren collection It is a loan from the Groninger Museum and their only van Gogh piece The museum director said he was “incredibly pissed off” and will do everything in his power to recover the painting We will keep you updated with the latest information The portrait ‘Gordina de Groot’ from the Nuenen period by Vincent van Gogh The painting is temporarily hanging in the Noordbrabants Museum in Den Bosch “It’s nice to have her back home” De Groot was the model for the work ‘Kop van een vrouw’ (‘head of a woman’) by the famous painter the canvas can now be seen by the general public again The work was privately owned for a long time In 2023 it was transferred from a banker from The Hague to a British art collector The new owner is now temporarily loaning it to the Den Bosch museum Curator Helewise Berger cannot believe her luck now that the masterpiece from Van Gogh’s Brabant period is in the museum “It is an incredibly special painting and we are proud to be able to show it here In the painting you see the Nuenen woman Gordina de Groot “Gordina was a farmer’s daughter and you clearly see how hard life on the land was.” you can also see her in Van Gogh’s masterpiece ‘De aardappeleters’ (the potato eaters) We know her name because Van Gogh mentioned her in a letter from Paris Van Gogh painted a whole series of studies of farmers’ faces in Nuenen These fascinated the painter because of the contrast with the faces that remained partly in the shadows “Those female heads you see here with the white hats – it is difficult – but it is so eternally beautiful –,” Van Gogh wrote The Noordbrabants Museum actually wanted to buy the painting “We thought that was a shame and we took our courage and went to the owner in London” “We asked if the canvas could be taken to Brabant and he agreed” but we can now borrow it from him for six months We are extremely grateful to him for that” “It’s great that we now have Gordina in the museum “This is really one of Van Gogh’s works where you actually see him yourself For more information: Het Noordbrabants Museum The municipal council of Geldrop-Mierlo has unanimously instructed the board to do everything possible to prevent the implementation of the plans for a large-scale distribution centre at Eeneind-West in the municipality of Nuenen That is why the municipality of Geldrop-Mierlo is currently preparing a statement of opinion with which the construction of this distribution centre should be prevented Alderman Frans Stravers: “With the arrival of these enormous distribution halls on the edge of our municipality we expect a huge increase in traffic in our municipality with all its consequences “Now that the draft decision is available for inspection we can still submit our views until 4 August Certainly the residents who live on the route between Eeneind-West in Nuenen and the entrance to the A67 at Bogardeind They will clearly experience the consequences of the construction of these centres.” The draft decision on the realisation of the Eeneind-West Distribution Centre can be found on the website of the municipality of Nuenen Due to the expansion of the Van Gogh Village Museum in Nuenen ‘Van Gogh achterna’ (‘chasing Van Gogh’) focuses on the works of Henri van der Waals Van der Waals (1904-1994) fell under the spell of Vincent van Gogh at the art academy in Antwerp There he stayed for a long time in the old parsonage with the Hofkes family and worked in and around Van Gogh’s former studio This is also reflected in Van der Waals’ work In his drawings and paintings you recognise Van Gogh’s themes and style: people working in the fields Van der Waals preferred to make figurative and realistic work The temporary exhibition in the Van Gogh Village Museum will be officially opened on Wednesday The first three months after the renovated Van Gogh Village Museum in Nuenen opened have proved to be successful the museum achieves a higher score than predicted Current analysis shows that visitors rate the museum 9+ out of 10 The satisfaction analysis that is currently done shows that two thirds of the visitors agree that Van Gogh Village Museum Nuenen succeeds in showing the story behind the master which creates a renewed interest in his works has seemingly managed to achieve what it set out to do director of the Van Gogh Village foundation is happy with the cooperation between the museum and ASML: “The Light Lab explains what light is and how Van Gogh used light and colour in his works” The plans for the renovation and enlargement of the museum took into account the ever growing interest in Van Gogh and his life Director Simone van der Heiden saw many visitors from Nuenen and the region vistors tend to be mainly holiday makers who find their way to the new museum These tourists come from the netherlands but alsoas well as from further afield” Over 90 per cent of the museum visors combine their tour with a visit to Nuenen village to see the Van Gogh monuments Van der Heiden is happy that restaurants and shops also benefit from the influx of visitors The satisfaction analysis also shows that visitors are enthusiastic about the new film ‘Becoming Vincent’ as well as the reconstruction of the potato eaters’ cottage Visitors can sit down inside the potato eaters’ room The Vincent van Gogh painting stolen from the Singer Laren museum in 2020 was damaged during the theft, but nut irreparably, said art restorer Marjan de Visser. The painting was recovered last year when a man delivered it to art detective Arthur Brand one evening It was shown to reporters during a media event a the Boijmans van Beuningen Depot in Rotterdam on Wednesday known in Dutch as De Lentetuin and in English as The Parsonage Garden at Nuenen in Spring will be further studied to determine the necessary repairs and restorations following the theft De Visser said the top left corner likely broke when it was bumped against something the painting developed several deep scratches that broke through all layers of paint The experts who studied the painting said they believe all of the damage can be repaired "It's not too bad for us," said Andreas Blühm from the Groninger Museum The painting is expected to be put on display at his museum from March 29 four years after it was stolen off the Singer Laren museum wall during the early months of the coronavirus pandemic fans of the artwork can view it later this month while it undergoes restoration at the Boijmans van Beuningen Depot The 1884 painting was on loan from the Groninger Museum to the Singer Laren when it was stolen in a smash-and-grab on March 30, 2020. During the first coronavirus lockdown, a man entered the Singer at night, smashed the glass doors with a sledgehammer, and walked out with the multi-million euro work tucked under his arm The Van Gogh painting was recovered in September 2023 Blühm said he was delighted to get the work back It is slightly damaged but repairable,” he said at the time This is not the only painting from Van Gogh’s time in Nuenen to make the news this week. The painting Tête de paysanne à la coiffe blanche, known in English as Head of an old farmer’s wife with a white hat, will be on sale at the Tefaf art fair in Maastricht next month. © 2012-2025, NL Times, All rights reserved. 2023 A detail from the stolen painting.A painting by Vincent van Gogh that was stolen from a museum three years ago has been recovered after an intervention by ‘art detective’ Arthur Brand one of Van Gogh’s early works dating from 1884 was taken from the Singer Museum in Laren in March 2020 At the time it was on loan from the Groninger Museum was sentenced to eight years in jail after he was traced using DNA evidence and charged with stealing two paintings worth €17 million broke into the Museum Hofje van Mevrouw van Aerden in Leerdam and made off with a Frans Hals painting said he was delighted the Van Gogh had been returned “For the last few years I wondered if I’d ever see it Thankfully I was informed just before it was returned Blühm said the painting was in reasonably good condition “I could see immediately that it was genuine Brand told the Telegraaf he had obtained the stolen painting through a contact in the underworld “I was always confident the work would be returned,” he said “The last few weeks have been nerve-wracking Brand said he was was sent a text by a man who claimed to have access to the work who arranged a rendez-vous under cover of darkness in Amsterdam Two days later he appeared on Brand’s doorstep with the painting in an Ikea bag Brand said an earlier attempt to secure the return of the painting two years ago failed when secret talks with an Amersfoort-based drugs gang broke down But he was always confident that the work would be returned “It was a headache not just for the police and justice department but for those involved in the criminal circuit,” he said “The Van Gogh was just too hot.” We could not provide the Dutch News service without the generous support of our readers Your donations allow us to report on issues you tell us matter and provide you with a summary of the most important Dutch news each day Many thanks to everyone who has donated to DutchNews.nl in recent days We could not provide this service without you Please help us making DutchNews.nl a better read by taking part in a short survey the renovated Van Gogh Village museum in Nuenen is attracting a lot of attention People come from far and wide to view the life of the Brabant master painter Also Nuenen residents see a whole new museum which brings out The former Vincentre has been expanded with an exhibition space and a new wing and this has not gone unnoticed by visitors “We are from Amsterdam ourselves and today is a day with bad weather anyway Vincent van Gogh’s art has stolen my heart and here in Nuenen you see that emphatically reflected” “I am originally from Australia and am now in the Netherlands for two months My parents are Dutch and I therefore want to get to know better where my roots lie” I hadn’t been there yet after the renovation,” a man says It just looks like the old Van Gogh museum no longer exists especially the Light Lab created in collaboration with ASML I have read that you need at least three hours to read and see everything so this does invite you to come back,” said the volunteer She was sixteen when Eunice van Ekert from Nuenen won the world-famous modelling competition Elite Model Look She beat 850 other candidates and suddenly her life was completely turned upside down her suitcase is ready for international assignments in Europe and New York as a curvy model The competition is organised annually by world-renowned modelling agency Elite Models Gisele Bünchen and Naomi Campell were previously discovered by Elite “It was an experience to remember,” Eunice looks back but I was still very young and there was an awful lot coming at me.” The world of catwalks and photo shoots is hard work and the utmost is demanded of a model only to be rejected because her measurements did not meet the impossibly high demands made life hard for Eunice It was tough to meet the extremely high beauty standards “I am predisposed to be a bit wider,” she explains “I wanted to get a clear idea of where wanted my career to take me After talking to my inner circle and my sports coach I decided to change tack and to register as a curvy model I do have hips and breasts and let’s be honest I also want other boys and girls to see that Eunice is now on the books of modelling agencies in The Netherlands “I built a strong portfolio here and take this to clients abroad I hope I will soon get a phonecall for my first international assignment” Her 38/40 size reflects the average western woman seamlessly She will continue to make informed choices in diet and exercise to stay in shape “Don’t think a curvy model can eat whatever she likes for it is vital to have healthy skin and to feel good For me this feels much more natural and feminine Translated by: Shanthi Ramani and Greta Timmers Mayor Maarten Houben will take off his chain of office in February after twelve years The Mayor of Nuenen himself wanted to continue News that hit home hard in the Houben household “He was really upset that evening” Then you are speechless for a while” Floor says in conversation with LON  (local Nuenen broadcaster) Her father was clearly devastated by the news because his time as mayor was a turbulent period but the corona crisis also had a big impact “Corona was an absolute low point for many people Those who became ill or died because of it Companies that have gone bankrupt or are still having a very difficult time because governance is something you do with all 24,000 residents” The village near Eindhoven has undergone a change under his leadership “The advice to the provincial government at the time was to immediately dissolve Nuenen and to merge with another municipality The village has now absolutely developed into a mature regional player” His time as Mayor of Nuenen will come to an end in February Houben then passes the chain of office to a temporary Two Van Gogh masterpieces stolen in Amsterdam in 2002 and recovered last year in Italy will be on show in Naples from Tuesday until February 26 A specialist takes the temperature of ‘Congregation Leaving the Reformed Church in Nuenen’ by late Dutch artist Vincent Van Gogh.(AFP/Carlo Hermann) The brief exhibition at the Capodimonte Museum has been organised as a thank you to the southern city for the local police’s role in tracking down the two small but hugely valuable and historically significant oil paintings The works had gone unheard of from the time they were stolen in a daring raid on the Van Gogh Museum until they turned up last year at the house of a notorious mafia boss The 1882 ‘Seascape at Scheveningen ‘and the 1884/5 ‘Congregation leaving the Reformed Church at Nuenen’ were among the Dutch master’s first oil paintings and are of enormous interest to art historians How exactly the paintings ended up in Italy remains a mystery They were found in September during a raid on a property belonging to fugitive mobster Raffaele Imperiale The area is a notorious hotspot for the nefarious activities of the Neapolitan mafia The paintings were stolen in December 2002 with the thieves using a rope to get in and out of the heavily fortified building after getting on to the roof by ladder a general with Italy’s financial and customs police said the theft had ranked on the FBI’s top ten of art crimes “More than ever we are seeing art works being used by criminals either as safe haven investments or as a way of making payments or guaranteeing deals between organised criminal groups,” he said at the unveiling of the two paintings on Monday Follow @htlifeandstyle for more 36 percent of drug suspects between 2012 and 2020 also had a family member suspected of a drug offense The highest percentage of “drug crime families” don’t occur in the Randstad but in smaller towns and villages like Nuenen Historian and crime researcher Hans Moors finds that logical you see that the family continues to live together They form a larger share of the population so you see more family connections,’ he said to RTL Criminal family ties are most common under the rivers - of the 20 municipalities with the highest percentages Over 5,500 drug suspects with a family member also tied to drug crimes live in the province A light installation inspired by Van Gogh’s sunflowers was a popular feature of Eindhoven’s Glow festival in 2019 This year the sunflowers will make a comeback – this time in Nuenen where Van Gogh painted some of his most famous works more than a hundred years ago The sunflowers will go on display next to the Roosdonck windmill The windmill lies close to the De Groot family’s farm The family formed the inspiration for Van Gogh’s famous ‘De Aardappeleters’ (‘The Potato Eaters’) The display is part of an initiative by Nuenen Council an organisation preserving Van Gogh’s heritage They state that the intention is to bring a ‘colourful homage’ to Van Gogh to the area The sunflower display was designed by light artists Hugo Vrijdag from Eindhoven It was originally created for the 2019 edition of Glow where they adorned the stairs outside the Witte Dame building Source: Studio040 Anna van der Linden from Nuenen won ‘The voice of PSV’ in the Philips Stadium on Saturday the 17-year-old had to sing her version of the club song at the edge of the field Van der Linden did this so well that the jury chose her over nine other candidates she can play the lead role in a TV commercial from energiedirect.nl who is also the organizer of the competition “I have been a fan for years and this year I have a season ticket for the first time After a match my brother pointed me to the auditors for ‘The voice of PSV’ in the supporters home I am taking singing lessons and that is why he thought I should really participate I never expected that I would win,” says Van der Linden the girl from Nuenen may also perform on the PSV fan square prior to the match against Ajax Source: Studio040 Kaylee from Nuenen won a sum of €100,000 in the VriendenLoterij draw The single mother of a baby daughter received the check from the hands of VriendenLoterij ambassador Wolter Kroes “There are a number of wishes I can now make come true I would like to take my child to an amusement park and take a nice trip Participants who buy a ticket in the VriendenLoterij have a chance to win more than two hundred thousand prizes every month They also choose a good cause that touches them At least forty per cent of their lottery ticket prize is contributed to the preservation of cultural heritage and the welfare of people Burglars are targeting houses in the centre of Nuenen Especially the early evening is a popular time to strike reports a neighbourhood police officer on X two young men tried to break into a house on Jacob Catsstraat A glance at the police website shows that fourteen burglaries have already occurred in Nuenen since the beginning of December There were also two attempted burglaries in that period It happened most often in postcode area 5671 A police spokesman says the number of burglaries in Nuenen is indeed striking he also says that December is a popular month for burglars to strike anyway it is not clear what the reason for the high number of burglaries in Nuenen is and whether the police say they are carrying out extra checks and surveillance in the village There are no indications that the perpetrators are after specific items The police are asking people who saw anything striking in Jacob Catsstraat between 6pm and 7pm on Sunday to report it They are also looking for camera footage from that area The perpetrators might have been caught on camera The innovative Van Gogh Village Museum in Nuenen has reopened The story of the famous painter during the period he lived in Nuenen has a new look The museum was closed for six months because of the renovation Next Thursday the first visitors can come and take a look The museum has grown 2.5 times in size and because of this we have also been able to expand the collection” director of the Van Gogh Brabant Foundation “It’s great to be open again and explain to everyone the Nuenen period of Vincent van Gogh You actually get to know him as a person and why he made all those paintings” The renovation is immediately apparent when you enter It looks like you’re stepping into the old town hall it’s really the Van Gogh Village Museum “The museum can be divided into a number of sections you first enter his studio in Nuenen where he painted his first works Then you move on to his masterpiece the ‘Aardappeleters (potato eaters)’ We have arranged it so that you can actually take a seat at the table at which the aardappeleters also sat” “Then I haven’t mentioned the light lab we created together with chip machine manufacturer ASML we show visitors how Vincent van Gogh dealt with colours in his work so you can apply this yourself” Through international cooperation in a brand new museum the Van Gogh Village Museum aims to attract not only people from Nuenen “ASML has contacts all over the world and can share the story of Van Gogh globally This also contributes to familiarity” Van der Heiden: “Vincent van Gogh is an icon in the region and is known throughout the world There is no place on earth where you can see so much of him The cooperation with ASML shows that we can strengthen each other here in the region in order to add something to this region that we can be proud of” Queen Máxima will festively open the museum in a month’s time Last weekend the people of Nuenen had a sneak preview of the ‘Aardappeleters’ (potato eaters) by Van Gogh made by artist Peter Nagelkerke from Eindhoven stood on the terrace of restaurant ‘De Zonnewende’ which is located next to the park The artist himself was delighted with the turnout and people’s reactions: "The feedback of the visitors is mainly positive This appreciation feels nice I have to admit after all the fuss lately," says Nagelkerke the artist noticed that the people who have expressed negative views on his work "With that behaviour they are entrenching themselves even more and more," he said created especially for the "Van Gogh Year" increased the talk of the town the past few months but also the location is not accepted by everyone in Nuenen The plan is however that the work will get a spot in the park in the heart of Nuenen at the end of September Nagelkerke and other officials hope that the discussion around the work will now reduce and that there will be greater mutual understanding Source: Studio040