Van Gogh Kerk Etten-Leur gets multimedia Van Gogh experience

Etten-Leur will have a high-quality Van Gogh attraction at Van Gogh Kerk thanks to the investments of Van Gogh organizations collaborating in the Brabant. Municipality of Etten-Leur has agreed to sell the Van Gogh Kerk 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 cooperating Van Gogh organizations to make long-term investments. With a multimedia experience, visitors will experience here, on the spot where Van Gogh's father preached, from spring 2025, the first years of Van Gogh 's life as an artist.

Behind the scenes, Van Gogh Sites Foundation, in close cooperation with the local Van Gogh foundation, has been preparing to develop a special and unique experience for inside the church. The renowned design agency Tinker Imagineers from Utrecht has developed a museum and multimedia experience that will be built over the next few months in the Etten church where Vincent's father was pastor. The story "Vincent's passion" will feature 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 inventors behind the concept for the Van Gogh Kerk delivered the successful Van Gogh Village Museum in Nuenen in 2023. This now attracts 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 Kerk, the process of redevelopment and construction of the experience begins. This requires a hefty 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 Kerk, still sees a challenge: "We have quite a few wishes to make the Van Gogh Kerk a fully-fledged part of the total Van Gogh heritage. For this 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 Kerk and contribute to the preservation of the Van Gogh Monuments in Brabant. We are happy to enter into discussions with the business community about this".

Alderman Jean-Pierre Schouw: "We are extremely pleased with the sale of the Van Gogh Kerk 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."