CêlaVíta will support the Van Gogh Museum for at least a year in a partnership that starts in September – traditionally the month of the new potato harvest. A week later, the autumn exhibition The Potato Eaters: Mistake or Masterpiece? opens at the museum.
New generation of potato eaters
The partnership will see CêlaVíta and the Van Gogh Museum seek new ways of inspiring and connecting ‘the new generation of potato eaters’. As partners with Dutch roots, all activities as part of this collaboration emphasise the importance of preserving Dutch cultural heritage for the current and future generations.
Marjan Skotnicki-Hoogland, managing of director CêlaVíta:
‘We are dedicated to working together to get the best and most delicious products out of the earth, for the current and future generations of potato eaters. This outstanding partnership with the Van Gogh Museum represents a singular opportunity for us to unite the old and new generations of potato eaters. We are very proud of this wonderful initiative’.
Emilie Gordenker, Director of the Van Gogh Museum:
‘We are delighted with this new partnership. CêlaVíta will help us to bring our Dutch audience closer to the work and life of Vincent van Gogh. Their support will also contribute to the preservation of the collection, ensuring that future generations can be inspired by significant artworks like The Potato Eaters’.
The Potato Eaters: Mistake or Masterpiece?
As part of the partnership, CêlaVíta supports the realisation of the autumn exhibition The Potato Eaters: Mistake or Masterpiece?, on display at the Van Gogh Museum from Friday 8 October 2021. Vincent van Gogh painted the work showing a peasant family at the dinner table in 1885, while in Nuenen in the Dutch province of Brabant. The painting is now a highlight of the Van Gogh Museum collection, but it was certainly not always widely considered a masterpiece.
The exhibition explores the genesis of The Potato Eaters, Van Gogh’s dedication and perseverance, what the work meant to him and the criticism he received for the work. A selection of paintings, drawings, sketches and letters by Vincent van Gogh, in addition to works by contemporaries and sources of inspiration including Jozef Israëls and Anthon van Rappard, introduce the complete story of the painting.
