Van Gogh Museum

The Van Gogh Museum is an art museum in Amsterdam in the Netherlands dedicated to the works of Vincent van Gogh and his contemporaries. It is located at the Museum Square in the borough Amsterdam South, close to the Stedelijk Museum, the Rijksmuseum, and the Concertgebouw. The museum is founded in 1973 and located in a building designed by Gerrit Rietveld. The museum's collection is the largest collection of Van Gogh's paintings and drawings in the world. In 2012, the museum had an estimated 1,438,000 visitors, which makes it the most visited museum in the Netherlands and the 30th most visited art museum worldwide. Upon Vincent van Gogh's death in 1890, his work not sold fell into the possession of his brother Theo. Theo died six months after Vincent, leaving the work in the possession of his widow, Johanna van Gogh-Bonger. Selling many of Vincent's paintings with the ambition of spreading knowledge of his artwork, Johanna maintained a private collection of his works. The collection was inherited by her son Vincent Willem van Gogh in 1925, eventually loaned to the Stedelijk Museum in Amsterdam where it displayed for many years, and was transferred to the state-initiated Vincent van Gogh Foundation in 1962.