A Dutch museum Tuesday put a collection of 88 paintings by Vincent van Gogh on display for the first time since 1984, in an exhibition featuring masterpieces such as "The Potato Eaters".
The Kroller-Muller museum in the central Netherlands holds one of the world's largest private collections of paintings by the 19th century Dutch master, but they are rarely displayed together.
"Seeing the work of Van Gogh is always special, but 88 together, I don't think it has happened before in this century," museum director Benno Tempel told AFP in an interview.
"The funny thing is with a museum collection is that you have a lot of paintings, you have a lot of artworks, but you don't show all of them," he said.
Usually many of the works are out on loan, undergoing restoration or research, or absent for education purposes, explained Tempel.
"So, in our case, it was a rare chance that all of a sudden all the 88 paintings by Van Gogh were in our house at the same time," he told AFP.
Alongside "The Potato Eaters", the artist's world-famous depiction of peasant life from 1885, the exhibition includes "Terrace of a Cafe at Night" (1888) and "The Old Tower at Nuenen" (1884).
Even the staff at the museum had never seen all the paintings together, said Tempel.
"For us it's an enormous, beautiful experience. It's overwhelming," said the 54-year-old.
The exhibition has been organised around the theme of the three divine virtues: faith, hope and love.
These themes "give you more insight not only into Van Gogh's life, but also into his development as an artist," curator Renske Cohen Tervaert told AFP.
The goal of the exhibition is not to repeat the myths about the famously tortured artist, she explained.
The museum aims to explore "more about the reason he wanted to become an artist... and how he managed to use his paintings as a message, as a method of compassion and trying to help other people."
The post-Impressionist painter is among the most celebrated and prolific artists in history, having created around 900 paintings over a short career.
He produced many of his best-known works during his time in France, where he painted masterpieces including the famous "Sunflowers" series and a number of well-known self-portraits.
The artist died in 1890 at the age of 37, two days after shooting himself in the chest following well-documented mental health struggles.
Most of the works acquired in Tuesday's exhibition, entitled "Van Gogh, All Our Paintings", were acquired by the museum's founder Helene Kroller-Muller between 1908 and 1930.
Tervaert said she was honoured her museum was able to put on such an exhibit, which is roughly double the number of paintings normally on display there.
She said it was also an important event for the Netherlands, where she believes the artist achieves less fame than he does abroad.
"I mean, he's one of our biggest stars," said the 46-year-old.
German tourist Barbara Brandt, 73, was certainly impressed as she toured the museum.
"It's extraordinary to look at all these pictures in one place," she told AFP.
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