World culture: One of the best of the watercolours by Vincent van Gogh is displayed in Amsterdam

Van Gogh Museum (Amsterdam) purchases 'Pollard willow' by Vincent van Gogh.

For the first time in five years, the Van Gogh Museum has purchased a work by Vincent van Gogh (1853-1890). The watercolour ‘Pollard willow’ is a major addition to the museum’s collection. Director Axel Rüger comments: ‘This specific work was on the museum’s wish list as a major potential purchase, because it is one of the most representative watercolours from Van Gogh’s period in The Hague, and until now, there was a gap in our collection here. That this work is now part of our collection is fantastic, not just for the Van Gogh Museum but also for the Dutch public art collections in general’. Pollard willow could not have been purchased without substantial contributions from the Vincent van Gogh Foundation, the BankGiro Lottery, the Rembrandt Association and her Prints and Drawings Fund, the VSB Foundation, and the Mondriaan Fund.

Pollard willow was executed in The Hague in July 1882, a period in which Van Gogh produced –for the first time− a number of large, fully-fledged watercolours. The work displays a path alongside a stretch of water, with a pollard willow standing beside it. Clearly visible in the background are the buildings of the depot at Rijnspoor railway station. Van Gogh stumbled on this spot on one of his many journeys in the surroundings of his house on Schenkstraat, in The Hague.

A special presentation revolving around this purchase will be on view at the Van Gogh Museum until 10 July 2012.