Loan of 2.5 million for Vincentre expansion
Nuenen, December 10, 2021 - As part of a financing plan for the Van Gogh heritage in Brabant, the Province has provided a loan of 2.5 million euros. This will allow the Vincentre Museum to begin its planned expansion in early 2022.
Vincentre opened in 2010 and receives 20,000 visitors annually from home and abroad. In recent years the capacity of the current museum has proved too small to keep up with the growth in the number of visitors. The extension to the museum will take the form of an expressive and contemporary version of a long-roofed farmhouse.
Museum of international stature
Commissioner Stijn Smeulders (Culture, Sports, Leisure and Heritage) is proud of the steps that are now being taken in Nuenen. "Together with the contributions of the Municipality of Nuenen, the Brainport Region Deal, ASML, Mondriaan Fund and many local and regional companies, a museum of international stature is being built here. It is extraordinary that with such a Brabant-wide collaboration and the daily energy of 160 volunteers we can realize a great tribute to Van Gogh. This contributes to our ambition to have Brabant be a pleasant and enjoyable place for as many people as possible. To live, to work and to visit."
Sustainable and innovative architecture
The plan was designed by the architectural firm diederendirrix from Eindhoven and does justice to the village and Brabant character of the past as well as the contemporary view of sustainable and innovative architecture. The choice of materials for the new building is in keeping with Vincent van Gogh's preference for using natural and honest materials.
Vincent's Light Lab
In addition to a renewed permanent exhibition, the new building will also house a temporary exhibition plus an interactive experience on the theme of 'light'. This interactive component is being realized in collaboration with ASML. In Vincent's Light Lab, young and old alike will explore perspective and light, just as Van Gogh did in his day. Under the motto light is color, and color is light, ASML and Van Gogh Brabant are focusing on a young target group with this educational Light Lab. In this way the Vincentre Museum becomes an art-historical museum where creativity and technology also get a logical place in the Brainport region.
Van Gogh National Park
With the new layout of the Vincentre Museum a clear relationship is also established with the Brabant landscape to which Van Gogh felt so connected. The uniqueness of the new museum is that it will soon be able to be experienced even more as a center from which to visit the village and the surrounding countryside. The museum is already the starting point of the 435 km long Van Gogh cycle route and will soon also be the center of the Van Gogh National Park walking route through the surrounding landscape.
Van Gogh Brabant
Museum Vincentre, together with the heritage sites in Zundert and Etten-Leur, Tilburg and Het Noordbrabants Museum in 's-Hertogenbosch, form the chain that tells the life story of Van Gogh in Brabant. In the coming years the Van Gogh Sites Foundation which is known to the public under the name Van Gogh Brabant will continue to raise private funds and finances in order to be able to strengthen the quality and significance of the Van Gogh heritage in Nuenen and in the rest of Brabant. According to Frank van den Eijnden, director of Van Gogh Brabant, the investments for a better cultural and internationally appealing offer are essential for the region. "A strong growing economy needs an attractive cultural offering and a nice green environment. The life story, the work and the heritage of Van Gogh have everything in common to be able to radiate these qualities".
