European Stars and Stripes (Newspaper) - December 29, 1989, Darmstadt, Hesse                                Art world in on Van Gogh by Abner Katzman associated press Vincent Van Gogh died a penniless suicide but the Centennial of his death is big business. Organizers in the Netherlands Are making elaborate plans or the event next year and merchandisers Are trying to Cash in on the Star crossed artist s popularity by marketing items ranging rom wine to ties bearing his name or image. The commercialization has not pleased the government backed Van Gogh 1990 foundation or Van Gogh s family. It is not to our taste said the artist s grand Nephew Lohan Van Gogh. The foundation is preparing the biggest Ever Van Gogh show. Almost 200 of his works loaned from More than 50 countries will be featured in an Amsterdam exhibition that opens on the anniversary of his birth March 30. The official commemoration has the support of the Van Gogh family. We Are going to give Vincent Van Gogh a High Quality commemoration foundation spokeswoman Madeleine a. Wardenaar said. We want him to be respected As a dutch  foundation financial adviser. Royackers added we re not doing this As a  but Many others Are. Chief among them is Amsterdam dentist Jacob Dekker whose Van Gogh International has registered the name Vincent Van Gogh As a trademark in just about every country you can think of except  i Lis flagship line of Vincent Van Gogh perfumes and colognes has a Floral fragrance to remind buyers if works Tike the sunflowers series and Triss which holds the Art auction record of $53 million. Other commemorative products Dekker has licensed include pen sets watches compact discs of music composed by Van Gogh contemporaries Debussy Ravel and Chausson and to shirts scarves and ties decorated with Van Gogh scenes. He projects sales of about $75 million worldwide during the Centennial Celebration. The products retail for $70 to $1,000. Dekker said he expects the japanese Market to account for a third of sales because of Van Gogh s popularity there. Dekker said he registered the trademark five years ago without a thought to the Centennial. The idea was to find a product name that everyone knows worldwide so you Don t have to spend millions establishing a name he said. For those who Lake Van Gogh slightly More seriously than to dab him behind their ears or tie him around their necks the  Franklin mint is issuing a limited edition Bronze commemorative medallion for $149. American express Netherlands is offering an eight Inch Bronze bust of Van Gogh for $487.50. The bust s manufacturer Barcelona based Vincent Fine Art also is Selling Van Gogh reproductions and commemorative bottles of Spanish Champagne throughout Western Europe. A canal tour operator in Amsterdam has gotten in Van Gogh s somber painting of a farm family it the supper table the potato Faten was done before he began to use vibrant colors. Vincent Tan cough s 1889 self portrait. On the act by Embla zoning his boat with sunflowers like those painted by Van Gogh. The hoopla has created friction Between entrepreneurs and organizations like the Centennial foundation which see themselves As trying to shield an artistic giant from crass commercialism. One endorsement the foundation refused was for a line of curtains embossed with Van Gogh sunflowers. We try to discourage people. We Don t like the publicity it gets but we cannot control it said Wardenaar the foundation spokesman. Enter Preneus Are Able to sell the Van Gogh products because the artist s name and his works Are in the Public Domain and Wardenaar noted that commercialism these Days is part of  Lohan Van Gogh the grandson of the artist s brother Theo said the entrepreneurs can do what they like. We have not much to say about  Lohan chairs the family run Vincent Van Gogh foundation which owns More than 100 works on permanent loan to the Van Gogh museum in Amsterdam the world s largest collection. At Issue is one of the Netherlands greatest cultural icons a minister s son whose Early works reflected the grinding poverty of 19th-Century Rural dutch life. Foremost among those works is the potato eaters depicting members of a farm family with pinched features gathered around a meager supper. It was Only during his later French period that Van Gogh bloomed with the vibrant colors that have gilded the auction Gavel. The irony is that the world s Best Selling artist sold Only one painting himself. After his descent into mental illness Van Gogh shot and killed himself in july 1890. He was 37. Dekker defends the commercialism saying it is a natural course in a business oriented nation Holland has More to offer than wooden shoes windmills and Little girls with pieces of  not everyone agrees. When i offered my products to the gift shop of the Van Gogh museum they treated me like a stray dog Dekker said. Meanwhile the Centennial foundation is pushing ahead with event it claims will nurture interest in the artist without exploiting him. A Van Gogh opera will premiere in Amsterdam a commemorative medal will be issued a film festival screened and a poetry Book published with the work of 20 dutch and belgian poets commissioned in his Honor. Commemorative posters by 20 contemporary artists including czechoslovak Jiri Kolar dutchman Willem de Kooning and american Roy Lichtenstein have been run off to help offset the $11.5 million Cost of the exhibition Cost