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# Help Preserve Vincent van Gogh's Humble Grave
- URL: https://hyperallergic.com/van-goghs-grave-preservation-campaign/
- Published: 2017-02-01T00:25:48.000Z
- Updated: 2025-11-24T16:13:06.000Z
- Description: A crowdfunding campaign is rallying support from Vincent van Gogh fans to preserve and protect the painter's grave in Auvers-sur-Oise, France.
- Author: Allison Meier
- Tags: In Brief, cemetery, Funding, Vincent van Gogh, #wp, #wp-post, #image-position-hidden, #Import 2025-11-24 07:23 (2016, 2017, part 2)

![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/51/f8/51f871d8-b6be-4a73-b958-0ca4fff0110a/content/images/hyperallergic-newspack-s3-amazonaws-com/uploads/2017/01/vangoghgrave01.jpg)

Graves of Vincent van Gogh and Theo van Gogh in Auvers-sur-Oise, France, as seen in 2014 (photo by Taegyunk/Wikimedia)

Many of the around [200,000 annual visitors](https://helpvangogh.heoh.net/qui-sommes-nous?ref=hyperallergic.com) who journey to [Auvers-sur-Oise](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Auvers-sur-Oise?ref=hyperallergic.com), just north of Paris, pay their respects at the grave of [Vincent van Gogh](http://hyperallergic.com/tag/vincent-van-gogh/) by leaving sunflowers or [bits of wheat](https://books.google.com/books?id=QssD77mFRkkC&pg=PA43&dq=van+gogh+grave&hl=en&sa=X&ved=0ahUKEwi6xeWT2ezRAhWCJiYKHWqcCI4Q6AEIHTAA&ref=hyperallergic.com#v=onepage&q=van%20gogh%20grave&f=false) from the nearby fields that he painted shortly before his death on July 29, 1890\. Last July, on the anniversary of his passing from [a self-inflicted bullet wound](https://hyperallergic.com/an-exhibit-examines-van-goghs-illness-from-a-rusty-revolver-to-a-doctors-sketch-of-his-ear/), [ *Le Figaro* reported](http://www.lefigaro.fr/arts-expositions/2016/07/28/03015-20160728ARTFIG00145-pas-de-fleurs-pour-van-gogh.php?ref=hyperallergic.com) that instead of flowers, the local [Institut van Gogh](http://www.institutvangogh.org/?ref=hyperallergic.com) was asking for donations to preserve this fragile site.

![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/51/f8/51f871d8-b6be-4a73-b958-0ca4fff0110a/content/images/hyperallergic-newspack-s3-amazonaws-com/uploads/2017/01/vangoghgrave03.jpg)

A 1927 photograph of the graves of Vincent van Gogh and Theo van Gogh (via Nationaal Archief/Flickr)

Water damage from bad storms in October 2015, inadequate drainage at the cemetery, and the heavy foot traffic have taken their toll on the burial ground, where van Gogh’s brother Theo, who died shortly after him, is also interred. Hannah McGivern [at the *Art Newspaper*](http://theartnewspaper.com/news/conservation/campaign-launched-to-save-vincent-van-gogh-s-grave/?ref=hyperallergic.com) reported this week that the council of Auvers-sur-Oise is teaming with the nonprofit Institut Van Gogh on a [crowdfunding campaign](https://helpvangogh.heoh.net/?ref=hyperallergic.com) to raise €600,000 (\~$647,640) for needed repairs at the village graveyard. The planned [work includes](https://helpvangogh.heoh.net/en-savoir-plus?ref=hyperallergic.com) a cemetery drainage system, shelter, bathrooms, lighting, a lockable entrance, and a redesign of the surrounding landscape to better reflect it as immortalized in van Gogh’s last canvases.

![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/51/f8/51f871d8-b6be-4a73-b958-0ca4fff0110a/content/images/hyperallergic-newspack-s3-amazonaws-com/uploads/2017/01/churchauverssuroise.jpg)

Vincent van Gogh, “L’église d’Auvers-sur-Oise, vue du chevet” (June 1890), oil on canvas (via Musée d’Orsay/Wikimedia)

The cemetery is a short walk from Notre-Dame-de-l’Assomption, which van Gogh painted in a June 1890 piece now [at the Musée d’Orsay](http://www.musee-orsay.fr/en/collections/index-of-works/notice.html?no%5Fcache=1&nnumid=755&ref=hyperallergic.com). That structure has also suffered significant water damage and has a leaky roof, which were the focus of [a preceding crowdfunding campaign](https://www.fondation-patrimoine.org/fr/ile-de-france-12/tous-les-projets-593/detail-eglise-d-auvers-sur-oise-peinte-par-van-gogh-43621?ref=hyperallergic.com). On the way to the cemetery, you pass by [a wheat field](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wheat%5FFields%5F%28Van%5FGogh%5Fseries%29?ref=hyperallergic.com#Auvers-sur-Oise) he painted in 1890, during his final 70 days spent in Auvers-sur-Oise. The van Gogh brothers are not the only eternal art residents [in the cemetery](http://www.leparisien.fr/auvers-sur-oise-95430/auvers-sur-oise-le-cimetiere-de-van-gogh-devoile-ses-secrets-31-10-2016-6272694.php?ref=hyperallergic.com), which includes monuments to sculptor [Léon Fagel](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/L%C3%A9on%5FFagel?ref=hyperallergic.com) and the painter [Charles-François Daubigny](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Charles-Fran%C3%A7ois%5FDaubigny?ref=hyperallergic.com). Yet Vincent continues to draw the crowds to the plot he shares with his art dealer and brother Theo. It’s covered with ivy, said to [be cultivated from the garden](https://books.google.com/books?id=oFOwBgAAQBAJ&pg=PT303&dq=van+gogh+grave&hl=en&sa=X&ved=0ahUKEwjy4-ma2ezRAhUBcCYKHZ8oBuw4ChDoAQglMAI&ref=hyperallergic.com#v=onepage&q=van%20gogh%20grave&f=false) of his friend [Dr. Paul Gachet](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Portrait%5Fof%5FDr.%5FGachet?ref=hyperallergic.com). In the early 1900s, a more formal memorial involving a cast bronze medallion [was proposed](https://books.google.com/books?id=%5Fg%5F2mlJOf6kC&pg=PA148&dq=van+gogh+grave&hl=en&sa=X&ved=0ahUKEwi6xeWT2ezRAhWCJiYKHWqcCI4Q6AEIOTAF&ref=hyperallergic.com#v=onepage&q=van%20gogh%20grave&f=false) for this humble place, but it was never executed. Now, van Gogh’s 21st-century fans can help protect the modest headstone that commemorates the celebrated Dutch artist.

![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/51/f8/51f871d8-b6be-4a73-b958-0ca4fff0110a/content/images/hyperallergic-newspack-s3-amazonaws-com/uploads/2017/01/vangoghgrave02.jpg)

Graves of Vincent van Gogh and Theo van Gogh in Auvers-sur-Oise, France, as seen in 2013 (photo by Wayne77/Wikimedia)

*Donations to support the preservation of the graves of Vincent and Theo van Gogh can be made online* [*via the Institut van Gogh*](https://helpvangogh.heoh.net/?ref=hyperallergic.com)*.*