Art & Culture

Vans’ Collaboration with the Van Gogh Museum Takes Wearable Art to a Whole New Level

The new collaboration between the iconic sneaker company and the Van Gogh Museum gives you the chance to wear world-famous paintings

By Ashley Petras

August 7, 2018

Framed artwork and vintage sneakers displayed on a stool and crate against a dark wall in an artistic setup. — The Vans x Van Gogh collection features sneakers printed with ‘Old Vineyard with Peasant’ Woman and Van Gogh’s letters. Photo: Courtesy of Vans

Person with pink hair wearing matching blue floral hat and backpack standing in front of a framed floral artwork. — Accessories created in a print of Van Gogh’s Almond Blossom are part of the Vans x Vincent Van Gogh collaboration. Courtesy of Vans

Even 128 years after his death, the deeply personal works and expressive brushstrokes of Vincent Van Gogh still manage to inspire. Now, thanks to a recently launched collaboration between Vans and the Van Gogh Museum, you can incorporate some of the artist’s paintings into your wardrobe.

Vans x Vincent Van Gogh includes 16 pieces, starting at $40, ranging from the company’s trademark slip-on sneakers to sweatshirts, bomber jackets, hats, and backpacks—all printed with one of the artist’s notable works. The artworks featured include Skull, Sunflowers, Almond Blossom, Self-Portrait as a Painter, and Old Vineyard with Peasant Woman, as well as a collage of letters Van Gogh wrote to his brother.

Noticeably absent is one of the artist’s most famous works, The Starry Night.

“I think, if you look at the collection as a whole, we really tried to translate what we’ve learned from working with the museum to the consumer,” Diandre Fuentes of Vans told Glamour. “For example, we didn’t use Starry Night because it’s the first piece you learn about [by] Van Gogh. We really tried, from the skull to the vineyard, to track the trajectory of his growth as an artist and educate the consumer on that.”

Not only does the collaboration offer fans a fresh way of connecting with Van Gogh’s work, it will also help ensure that his art can be seen by future generations, with the Van Gogh Museum putting all the profits toward preserving his collection. As the Museum’s managing director Adriaan Dönszelmann explained on Vans’ website, “It ties in with our mission to make the life and work of Vincent Van Gogh accessible to as many people as possible in order to enrich and inspire them.”