Amsterdam Van Gogh Museum to close for half a year

The Van Gogh Museum will close for renovation for half a year, from September 2012 to April/March 2013.

The museum will close on September 29, 2012.

The closure is due to renovation, and to make the museum comply with new safety regulations.

During the renovation, 75 of the museums top pieces will be on display in the Amsterdam Hermitage, so that visiting tourists will not have to miss the Sunflowers and other famous Van Gogh paintings.

The closure of the Van Gogh Museum means that the last remaining large museum at Museumplein square will close temporarily. The Rijksmuseum (famous for Rembrandt's Nightwatch) is only partly open to show its top pieces.
The Stedelijk Museum (Amsterdam's modern art museum) has been closed for years. Both these museums are closed for renovation.

It is expected that all three museums will re-open in 2013. The re-openings of Rijksmuseum and Stedelijk Museum have been postponed several times in the past, so this is not entirely certain.