The Planning

Before the billboards could be placed along the highway, there were lots of things that had to be done in advance.

It was already in the newspapers
even before the project started.
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It was in the newspaper in November 1989: the Katholieke Scholengemeenschap in Etten-Leur (formely called Etten), under the leadership of a team of four art teachers was embarking on a project. There were to be ten copies of five Van Gogh portraits, a photograph and four of his most famous paintings: The Langlois bridge with woman washing, Cafe terrace by night, The potato eaters and Fishing boats on the beach. Everything would be payed by sponsors. These sponsors would get their names written below the billboards. They should pay 1500 Dutch guilders (USD + 655). The municipality agreed to go along with it. The project was developed with the help of four teachers. Click here to go to the "the team behind" page. The whole idea was from the Van Gogh Stichting Etten-Leur, which wanted to do something for Van Gogh on the 100th anniversary of his death.