Pokémon Takes Over the Van Gogh Museum in Amsterdam

The style of the great Vincent van Gogh has been adopted for a special display of characters from the beloved Pokémon franchise. Six unique paintings of the cute creatures were created and displayed at the Pokémon x Van Gogh Museum exhibition in Amsterdam. The works were shown as a way to get children interested in the art of the Dutch master.

Pokémon Meets Van Gogh

According to the general director of the Van Gogh Museum, the collaboration will allow the next generation to learn about Vincent van Gogh’s life and art in a refreshing way. Despite that initial goal, adults showed up in great numbers. Some were fans of the franchise, and others were trying to buy merchandise they could later resell for a higher price. The staff at the museum was surprised by the behavior of those visitors.

The unlikely partnership between the Van Gogh Museum and the Pokémon Company clearly showed how influential Japanese art is, as both the great artist and franchise creators were influenced by it. This is not the first time the museum has explored this connection either. Back in 2018, it had an exhibition called Van Gogh and Japan, which showed off the painter’s interest in Ukiyo-e prints from the Edo period.

Japanese Art Inspired Van Gogh

According to the curator of paintings for the museum, Nienke Bakker, Japanese art was so crucial for Van Gogh that it would be difficult to imagine his works without it as a source of inspiration.

Meanwhile, Pokémon is deeply connected with Japanese folklore. The face of the franchise is the beloved Pikachu, but most people don’t know that it is based on the thunder beasts of Japanese mythology, which also go back to the Edo period.

Previous Similar Exhibitions

This type of collaboration between museums and the Pokémon Company is not new either. Other museums have also done similar exhibitions with the same goal. One such exhibition was called Pokémon x Kogei, and it showed artworks reimagining Pokémon with the help of traditional Japanese art techniques.

The Van Gogh Museum had some playful and educational activities for the little ones, namely a museum-wide scavenger hunt that was meant to show participants details about Van Gogh, his life, and his work. The museum’s restaurant also featured an instructional video that instructed children on how to draw their own Pikachu painting. Such interesting exhibitions inspired by great art and modern culture are a breath of fresh air, especially when the goal is to inspire the next generation to appreciate art.