The Van Gogh Museum in Amsterdam sent twenty-four paintings and five drawings to Nagoya. They're at the Aichi Prefectural Museum of Art through March 23. Not a greatest-hits tour—this one's about who kept the work together after Vincent died.
Why Van Gogh Wasn't Lost To History
Vincent's brother Theo supported him, bought his canvases when nobody else would, stored everything in Paris. Six months after Vincent's death in 1890, Theo was gone too. His wife Johanna inherited hundreds of paintings and drawings. She could have sold them off, paid bills, moved on. She didn't. Spent decades lending pieces to exhibitions, publishing Vincent's letters, building the reputation. Their son Vincent Willem eventually created the foundation that became the Van Gogh Museum. That's the story this exhibition tells.
Theodorus “Theo” van Gogh (1857–1891), Vincent’s younger brother and lifelong supporter, and Johanna van Gogh-Bonger (1862–1925), his sister-in-law who played a decisive role in preserving and promoting Vincent’s work. Image: Van Gogh Museum, Amsterdam.
The paintings span early work through Arles and Saint-Rémy. Some you've seen on postcards. Some you haven't. They're arranged to show progression—technique, palette, the shift from Dutch realism to French color. Museum text mentions dates and locations. Nothing overstated. The work does what it does.
Past the main galleries there's a projection room—14 meters wide, floor to ceiling. High-resolution images of Van Gogh paintings wrap the walls. Almond Blossoms, mostly. Also a 3D-scanned version of Sunflowers from SOMPO Museum in Tokyo, rendered in enough detail to see individual brushstrokes and paint buildup at scale.
You walk in, stand inside the projection, get a different angle on texture and technique than you'd get from standing in front of a canvas behind glass. It's supplemental—the actual paintings are the reason you're there—but it works for what it is. Good for seeing impasto and color layering up close. The room's separate from the main exhibition, optional.
Four handwritten letters are also here for the first time in Japan. Glass cases, dim lighting to protect the paper. One talks about money, what paint costs. Another describes a painting in progress. They're positioned late in the exhibition, easy to miss if you're rushing to the gift shop. Not decorative. Functional—Vincent working through ideas, asking Theo for help, explaining what he was trying to do.
Japan has shown Van Gogh before. This exhibition works differently because it's the family collection—not random acquisitions or private loans. These are the pieces the people who knew him chose to keep. Johanna deciding what stayed, what got exhibited first, which paintings best represented his vision. Vincent Willem insisting the collection remain intact instead of scattered to collectors worldwide. The curatorial decisions were made by family members a century ago.
What you see in Nagoya reflects those choices.
The museum's on the tenth floor of the Aichi Arts Center in Sakae, five minutes from Sakae Station on the Higashiyama or Meijo lines. Takes the elevator straight up. Decent sight lines, clean galleries, no crowding between pieces.
An audio guide available in Japanese and English if you want background. Exhibition runs through March 23. Tickets ¥2,000 general admission, ¥1,300 for students.
The Details
Van Gogh's Home: The Van Gogh Museum
Venue:
Aichi Prefectural Museum of Art
(10th Floor, Aichi Arts Center)
Dates:
Until Mar, 23, 2026
Hours:
10:00–18:00
(Closed Mondays)
Admission:
¥2,000 (General)
¥1,300 (Students)
Free (Elementary/Junior High)
Address:
1-13-2 Higashisakura
Higashi-ku, Nagoya
Website
Access
By Subway: Sakae Station (Higashiyama Line H16 / Meijo Line M05), Use Exit 4B or Oasis 21 exit, 5-minute walk
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