Trying out frames
Congregation Leaving the Reformed Church in Nuenen
Just after the painting was stolen in 2002 the thieves removed it from its frame. When the museum got it back in 2016 it had to choose a new frame. The curator, conservator and frame maker looked for the one that would suit it best.
The new frame had to go with the other frames on the paintings in the museum’s collection. The colour, the material, the width and the decoration also had to be suitable for the colours and the size of this artwork.
Fitting: carefully deciding which frame suits the painting best.
The church in its old frame in the gallery room, before 2002.
Most of the frames on Van Gogh’s paintings worldwide were chosen by the owners. They would usually choose a frame that matched the other frames in their collection, or simply one they thought looked nice. This is often a question of fashion.
The new frame
Eventually the frame maker made a new frame based on late-19th-/early-20th-century frames. It is a plain wooden frame that shows off the painting to its best advantage.
Congregation Leaving the Reformed Church in Nuenen in its new frame.
