Every year sees increasing interest in Vincent van Gogh, and this is a truly global phenomenon. The Dutch artist is now a megastar in East Asia—in China, Korea and Japan. Here, we review the Van Gogh year in 2025.
The big surprise of the year was news that the Van Gogh Museum may have to close its doors unless the Dutch state provides more money to help look after its buildings. Emilie Gordenker, the Amsterdam museum director, revealed in August that without planned renovations, the museum “will not be able to guarantee the safety of the collection, visitors and staff”. It would then be “forced to close”.
Van Gogh Museum, Amsterdam Van Gogh Museum, Amsterdam (photo: Jan Kees Steenman)
The museum receives €8.5m a year from the government to care for its buildings, but Gordenker says it is essential for the subsidy to be increased to €11m. Since the Dutch government owns the buildings, she argues that it must “fulfil its legally established obligations”. The museum has filed a legal complaint against the government, asserting that the state has breached its 1962 agreement with the Van Gogh family. This issue was due to be addressed in court on 19 February 2026, but the date has now been delayed.
Meanwhile, the museum reports that it expects to receive a total of 1,860,000 visitors in 2025, with 1,500,00 from abroad. This total is very similar to 2024 (1,843,000) and reflects the fact that the museum now restricts ticket sales, to avoid overcrowding and provide a good visitor experience.
Auction records
Van Gogh’s Parisian Novels (November-December 1887) sold for $62.7m at Sotheby’s, New York on 20 November Sotheby’s
During the year only two Van Gogh paintings were sold at auction: In the Dunes (September 1883, $4m at Christie’s) and Parisian Novels (November-December 1887, $62.7m at Sotheby’s). The Sotheby’s painting achieved a record price for a Van Gogh work of his Paris period (earlier Dutch pictures go for less and works done after the artist’s move to Provence can go for more). Parisian Novels is now the seventh most expensive Van Gogh ever auctioned. It is believed to have been sold to a Chinese buyer. Buyers from China have now become the major collectors of Van Gogh’s work.
Van Gogh’s Sower in a Wheatfield with setting Sun (July 1888), sold for $11.2m at Sotheby’s, New York on 18 November Sotheby’s
Eight drawings sold at auction in 2025, with Sower in a Wheatfield with setting Sun (July 1888, $11.2m at Sotheby’s) fetching a record price for a Van Gogh work on paper. The others were: Public Garden with Benches in Place Lamartine (April 1888, $3m at Sotheby’s); Public Garden at Arles (September 1888, £2.2m at Sotheby’s); Woman in a Wood (September-October 1882, $953,000 at Sotheby’s); Fisherman with Basket on his Back (January-February 1883, $699,000 at Christie’s); Head of a Peasant Woman, left Profile (December 1884-May 1885, £419,000 at Sotheby’s); Sower (December 1882, €483,000 at Sotheby’s); and The Sower (September-October 1881, €213,000 at Ketterer Kunst, Munich).
Acquisitions revealed
Van Gogh’s Tarascon Stagecoach (October 1888), given to the Los Angeles County Museum of Art Los Angeles County Museum of Art (gift of Henry and Rose Pearlman Foundation)
Two acquisitions were announced this year. Most important was Van Gogh’s Tarascon Stagecoach (October 1888), which was acquired by the Los Angeles County Museum of Art, as part of a major gift by the Henry and Rose Pearlman Foundation. On 21 December it will go on display in Collecting Impressionism at Lacma and then from 22 February will be shown in Los Angeles with nearly 50 Pearlman works which have been given to Lacma, the Brooklyn Museum of Art and New York’s Museum of Modern Art.
Hong Gyu Shin with his Van Gogh work, Head of a Peasant (January-March 1885), now on loan to the Ulsan Museum of Art Ulsan Museum of Art
Head of a Peasant (January-March 1885) was bought last year by Hong Gyu Shin, a Korean-born New York-based gallery owner. It is the first known acquisition by a collector from Korea. The purchase was unveiled in May, when it went on display at KAIST Art Museum, in Korea's southern city of Daejeon. Head of a Peasant then travelled to the Ulsan Museum of Art, in south-east Korea, for the exhibition Van Gogh and Beyond: the Shin Collection (until 8 February 2026).
Exceptional exhibitions
Van Gogh: Poets & Lovers at London’s National Gallery, which closed on 19 January Photo: The Art Newspaper
This year saw two outstanding Van Gogh shows. The first, at London’s National Gallery, opened in 2024 and closed on 19 January this year. Van Gogh: Poets and Lovers focussed on Van Gogh’s period in Provence (February 1888-May 1889). Its strength lay in the quality of the loans, assembled from around the world. It attracted 335,000 visitors, a record for a paid exhibition at the National Gallery.
Van Gogh’s Postman Joseph Roulin (August 1888) and the chair on which he sat, presented in Van Gogh and the Roulins: Together Again at Last (Van Gogh Museum, until 11 January 2026) Painting from the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston and chair from the Van Gogh Museum, Amsterdam (photo: The Art Newspaper)
The other major show was of Van Gogh’s portraits of the postman Joseph Roulin and his family, which opened at Boston’s Museum of Fine Arts, where it was seen by 280,000 visitors. It then transferred to the Van Gogh Museum, where 14 of the 23 portraits of the postman, his wife and three children were shown, along with associated items. There is just time to catch the exhibition before it closes on 11 January 2026.
Japanese Van Gogh lovers were particularly fortunate this year, with two touring shows from Dutch museums. Together the two presentations have nearly 90 paintings and drawings by the artist, almost 5% of his oeuvre. An exhibition of works from the Kröller-Müller Museum is going to three venues, opening at the Kobe City Museum (until 1 February 2026) and going on to Fukushima and Tokyo. The Van Gogh Museum exhibition has been in Osaka and Tokyo this year and is about to open at Nagoya’s Aichi Prefectural Museum of Art (3 January–23 March 2026).
Intriguing tales
The Van Gogh portrait Henri Matisse wanted and the bicycle for his brother Auguste: L’Arlesienne (April 1890) and Lucien Baylac’s poster for Acatène (1898) Museu de Arte de São Paulo and JJs/Alamy Stock
The Adventures with Van Gogh blog delved into some surprising stories this year. We reported on how the young artist Henri Matisse had wanted to buy a Van Gogh painting in 1899, but instead used the money to help his brother buy a bicycle.
At the end of the Second World War, when the Dutch were facing a famine, Vincent’s nephew exchanged two Van Gogh drawings for butter and bacon. One came up for sale this year, Head of a Peasant Woman, left Profile, and it went for £419,000—rather more than it was worth in 1945.
Not many Londoners know of Winfield House, the US ambassadorial residence hidden away in a well-protected part of Regent’s Park. During the 1960s two wealthy US ambassadors brought their own Van Gogh paintings with them, to hang in the reception rooms.
And last September Adventures with Van Gogh marked its 300th blog post by featuring the ten most popular articles. All earlier posts are available here.
NOTE TO READERS: Adventures with Van Gogh will be taking a Christmas break, returning on 9 January 2026
