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THE BIG INTERVIEW: VAN GOGH MUSEUM
A fine art The Van Gogh Museum’s licensing programme strives to inspire a diverse audience with the life and works of one the world’s best loved artists. Marijn Veraart, the Museum’s head of licensing, tells Licensing Museum & Heritage Book how shared brand values and compelling storytelling – with a dash of “the unexpected” – remain at the heart of every collaboration.
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ousing the largest Van Gogh collection in the world, including 200 paintings, close to 500 drawings and 700 letters by the artist, the Van Gogh Museum in Amsterdam is acknowledged as the leading international knowledge institute for Vincent van Gogh and his cultural heritage. “The fact that we are a single-artist museum gives us an unparalleled insight into Vincent’s world,” Marijn Veraart explains. “As well as Vincent’s paintings and sketches, we have hundreds of his letters. From these, we know so much about him; what drove him, his passion for nature, his mental struggles and his incredible resilience.” It’s fitting, then, for an institution that honours Vincent van Gogh’s Above right: Marijn Veraart, the Museum’s head of licensing. Inset: The Van Gogh Museum in Amsterdam.
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LICENSING MUSEUM & HERITAGE BOOK 2025
Above and left: Floral Street’s fragrances translate Vincent’s masterpieces into sensory experiences.
character as much as his art, that its licensing programme does the same. Partners are chosen on the basis of shared values, and the Museum and its licensees work collaboratively, tapping into each other’s areas of expertise to produce products that tell powerful stories about Vincent’s life, personality and creativity that resonate with consumers. Marijn references the Museum’s 2023 partnership with Moleskine as an example. “Moleskine produces premium notebooks that offer a blank canvas for people to explore their creativity, and our partnership with them was about paying homage to Vincent's artistic energy. We want to encourage people to draw, to write, to express their passion, and be who they want to be.”