The Nelson-Atkins Museum of Art will host a Vincent van Gogh exhibition running May 20 through September 4, 2028, bringing together paintings by van Gogh alongside Paul Gauguin, Georges Seurat and Émile Bernard in what's shaping up to be one of Kansas City's biggest art events of the decade.
A Blockbuster Years in the Making
According to FOX4KC, the exhibit will include loans from major public and private collections worldwide and is meant to offer new insights into van Gogh's creative process. Some of the works heading to Kansas City haven't set foot in the United States in more than 20 years, the museum told the station — a detail that signals just how far-reaching the loan list is likely to be.
The show pairs van Gogh with three contemporaries whose own styles were shaped by the same restless art scene that produced him. Exactly which original works by each artist will travel to Kansas City, who is lending them, or where in the museum the exhibition will be staged has not been detailed publicly.
Kansas City's Own Van Gogh Connection
Part of why this exhibition carries extra weight locally is that the Nelson-Atkins isn't a stranger to van Gogh's work — it already owns three original paintings by the artist, as KMBC has reported. That permanent collection is free for the public to view year-round. Kansas City businessman Henry Bloch donated the van Gogh pieces to the museum, the station notes.
Among those holdings is “Olive Trees,” part of the museum's European collection spanning the medieval period through the late 19th century, according to the Nelson-Atkins Museum of Art. The museum also holds van Gogh's “Restaurant Rispal at Asnières,” a painting he made after moving to Paris in 1886, according to the museum's own object record. Henry W. and Marion H. Bloch gave that piece to the museum in 2015, the same year the Bloch collection — which also includes work by Georges Seurat — joined the Nelson-Atkins's holdings.
A Painting With Its Own Travel History
“Restaurant Rispal at Asnières” has already made the rounds internationally. The museum's records show it was displayed at the Nelson-Atkins back in the summer of 1982, and more recently it traveled to the Art Institute of Chicago and the Van Gogh Museum in Amsterdam for the 2023–2024 exhibition “Van Gogh and the Avant-Garde.” That Amsterdam show, titled “Van Gogh and the Avant-Garde: Along the Seine,” examined how the area along the Seine shaped the work of van Gogh, Seurat, Paul Signac, Émile Bernard and Charles Angrand, according to the Van Gogh Museum. That exhibition, a collaboration with the Art Institute of Chicago, explored how the artists responded to industrial change along the river and developed new approaches to color and technique.
What's Next for the Nelson-Atkins
The 2028 van Gogh show is one of three exhibitions the Nelson-Atkins has planned featuring rare works and new discoveries tied to world-renowned artists across its 2027 and 2028 seasons, the museum says on its website. Ahead of that, the museum is set to open “Photography & Abolition” in May 2027, pairing its extensive 19th-century photography collection with major contemporary works.
No details have been released yet on ticketing, admission policies, or whether the 2028 van Gogh exhibition itself will be free like the museum's permanent collection. The curator, organizing partners and exact gallery location for the show also haven't been made public. For now, Kansas City art lovers have nearly two years to wait — and a trio of the museum's own van Goghs to visit in the meantime.
