2023-09-30 15:39:07
By Le Figaro with AFP
Published yesterday at 3:32 p.m., Updated yesterday at 3:39 p.m.
Six paintings by Pokémon Company artists are presented, including the Pikachu inspired by Self-Portrait with a Felt Hat (1887) found on the card. REMKO DE WAAL / AFP
The Van Gogh Museum is teaming up with the Japanese franchise to attract young people who hope to collect a Pikachu card inspired by a self-portrait of the Dutch painter and offered as part of an activity.
Aiming to reach a young audience through a partnership with Pokémon, the Van Gogh museum attracted a crowd… of collectors, hoping in particular to get their hands on a card showing Pikachu wearing a felt hat, inspired by a self-portrait from the Dutch master.
The card game, launched in Japan in 1996 in the wake of the video game series featuring the cute pocket monsters (“Pocket monsters“), has experienced a resurgence of interest in recent years which has driven up prices, causing stock shortages and incidents. The map “Pika-Portrait» is given to visitors from 6 years old «subject to availability» and provided that they participate in a “quest» and answer questions, according to the museum which is celebrating its fifty years of existence this year.
Also read: The global craze for Pokémon cards, between competitive gaming and collectibles
It is also available in official Pokémon stores in the UK, US and Canada. But the company indicated Friday on its X account (formerly Twitter) that in “due to massive demand, all our products in this collection are sold out“. she is working on a solution.
If the card with the painting of the chubby Pokémon is not sold in the Amsterdam museum shop, the latter was not spared by the “PokéMania»: Images posted on social media showed a crowd of adult visitors fighting over posters and clothing on which Pokémon paintings inspired by the Dutch master’s works were printed. Qualified as “scalpers», these people buy products available in limited numbers with high demand to resell them at a higher price.
«The unfortunate behavior of a small number of visitors on the first day of the collaboration was not anticipated“, declared a spokesperson for the museum to AFP, who assured Saturday that it had quickly guaranteed everyone’s safety and had not had similar problems since. The museum is now limiting purchases to one of each item per person, which will soon be “available in the online store (…) while stocks last».
The museum offers a series of activities between September 28 and January 7, 2024 in order to attract a young audience as well as “people who would otherwise not be interested in the Van Gogh Museum“. For the institution, “the work of Vincent van Gogh and Pokémon have a special connection to Japanese art and culture“. Six paintings created by artists from the Pokémon Company are presented, including the Pikachu inspired by Self-portrait with a felt hat (1887) which can be found on the map.
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