Van Gogh Church Etten-Leur gets multimedia Van Gogh experience

Etten-Leur will have a high-quality Van Gogh attraction in the Van Gogh Church thanks to investments by Van Gogh organizations collaborating in Brabant. The municipality of Etten-Leur has agreed to sell the Van Gogh Church to the provincial Van Gogh Sites NV. This step will allow the Vincent van Gogh Etten-Leur Foundation to operate the church on a long-term basis and the collaborating Van Gogh organizations to make long-term investments. With a multimedia experience, visitors will experience Van Gogh's first years of life as an artist here, on the spot where Van Gogh's father preached, starting in spring 2025.

Behind the scenes, Van Gogh Sites Foundation, in close collaboration with the local Van Gogh Foundation, has been preparing to develop a special and unique experience for the church. The renowned design agency Tinker Imagineers from Utrecht has developed a museum and multimedia experience that will be built in the coming months in the Etten church where Vincent's father was pastor. The story "Vincent's passion" will focus on a still relatively unknown period of Vincent's life, in which he literally gave color to the start of his life as an artist.

The organization and creators behind the concept for the Van Gogh Church have delivered the successful Van Gogh Village Museum in Nuenen in 2023. This has already attracted tens of thousands of visitors from home and abroad. Lex Besselink, chairman of the Vincent van Gogh Foundation in Etten-Leur is very pleased with this development: "We have worked towards this moment for a very long time. Everyone quickly agreed on the interpretation and the concept, but we also know that we have to treat such an important and image-defining monument in Etten-Leur with care. It fits exactly into the tourist vision of the municipality of Etten-Leur and the increasing visitor numbers are also attractive for the entrepreneurs in our beautiful center. We strongly believe that everyone will be proud of this new Van Gogh experience."

Contributions to the establishment

With the purchase of the Van Gogh Church, the process of redevelopment and construction of the experience begins. This requires a substantial investment to which the Van Gogh Sites Foundation can contribute in addition to the subsidy from Brabant-C. Ankie de Hoon, director of the Vincent van Gogh Etten-Leur Foundation, which operates the Van Gogh Church, still sees a challenge: "We have quite a few wishes to make the Van Gogh Church a fully-fledged part of the total Van Gogh heritage. Therefore we are still looking for companies and individuals who want to support us in this. They can thus become co-owners of the Van Gogh Church and contribute to the preservation of the Van Gogh Monuments in Brabant. We will be happy to discuss this with the business community".

Alderman Jean-Pierre Schouw: "We are extremely pleased with the sale of the Van Gogh Church to the Van Gogh Sites NV. This marks an important step in the preservation and further development of this beautiful monument in Etten-Leur. We wish the Vincent van Gogh Etten-Leur Foundation every success in realizing their ambitious plans. We look forward to seeing how this unique experience not only enhances cultural offerings, but also benefits our local community and economy."