Van Gogh dazzles at Netherlands' Kroeller-Mueller

The Associated Press, Tuesday, December 11, 2012, 4:42am (PST)

AMSTERDAM (AP) — With the Van Gogh Museum in Amsterdam closed for renovations, the world's second-largest collection of the tortured Dutch master's work is stepping into the limelight.

The lesser-known Kroeller-Mueller museum in the eastern Netherlands has revamped the layout of its central rooms, giving more space and focus to many of its top works.

On Tuesday it annouced "Vincent is Back." After a period in which some of its 91 Vincent Van Gogh paintings and 180 drawings and other works have been on loan, they are returning in style.

The first of two Van Gogh exhibitions this year, "Native Soil," looks at Van Gogh's early artistic career in the Netherlands, culminating in the 1885 masterpiece "The Potato Eaters." In April, "Land of Light" will look at Van Gogh's colorful flowering in France.