Summary

• The collaboration between the Van Gogh Museum and the Pokémon Trading Card Game led to chaos and misconduct, resulting in the firing of four museum employees.
• Combining fine art with pop culture may not be original, and Van Gogh's style is especially popular for parodies, and the collaboration with Pokémon was likely intended to draw more interest to the museum.
• The disastrous results, however, show the cross-promotion was ill-fated in hindsight, and is perhaps an example that such collaborations should be reconsidered in the future.

When the Van Gogh Museum in Amsterdam collaborated with the Pokémon cards from McDonald’s. Fans often enjoy juxtaposing iconic fine art with pop culture, and the distinctive style of Vincent van Gogh is a popular pick to adapt to various media franchises.

The problems arising from offering Pokémon merchandise in the museum itself raise questions. Evoking Van Gogh’s signature impasto paint thickness and choppy brushstrokes with a piece of Zelda fan art or a Star Wars t-shirt is hardly original at this point. The video game House Flipper even includes a Van Gogh painting concealed in a secret room in a basement. The artist’s infamously tumultuous life and immediately recognizable style makes Van Gogh a prime candidate for parodies, homages, and references. Combining the Van Gogh aesthetic with any popular work that made its debut long after the artist’s death is amusing, especially when the pairing is tonally inappropriate, but the events at the Van Gogh Museum suggest culture may be taking the joke too far.

Pokémon Brought Chaos To The Van Gogh Museum

Scalpers resold the Van Gogh Picachu card at massive markups, and the chaos at the museum itself, where the card was initially sold, included prospective buyers trampling over one another in the museum gift shop. Amsterdam-based publication Het Parool recently reported that at least four museum employees have been fired due to misconduct specifically surrounding the Pokémon exhibit. One was confirmed to have stolen a box of Pokémon cards, and an employee with a 25-year career at the museum reportedly violated policies relating to the exhibit. A museum containing multiple paintings valued in the millions faced its biggest issues with employees and clients alike due to the presence of Pokémon.

There is a distinct difference between the behaviors of fine art aficionados and collectors of pop culture products and memorabilia, like Pokémon cards. Some of the most expensive Pokémon cards have sold for hundreds of thousands of dollars, but there are obviously different risks from stealing a box of Pokémon cards and the theft of a renowned painting, which could be an international incident. The Van Gogh Museum was clearly not prepared for the aggression of prospective buyers, nor for the temptations facing its employees. In hindsight, the concept of an official collaboration between the museum and Pokémon was dubious from the start.

The Van Gogh Museum announced it was ending its distribution of the Pikachu With Grey Felt Hat card early, because "a small group of individuals has created an undesirable situation" (via Polygon, the original FAQ section has apparently been removed from the museum's site).

A rationale was given that Van Gogh’s interest in Japanese art provided a sound reason for the cross-promotion, but a more likely explanation is that it brought attention and profit potential for both the Pokémon Trading Card Game and the Van Gogh Museum. Since a multitude of parodies of Van Gogh’s work, juxtaposed with pop culture, are created without any licensing fees, doing an official collaboration may have seemed like a logical step. It may seem elitist to say that crossing a pop culture franchise with an artist like Van Gogh is a bad idea, but the argument has its merits.

Franchises Like Pokémon And Fine Art Do Not Mix Well

Fine art purists might argue that such a collaboration cheapens the legacy of Van Gogh. Others could counter, noting that some of the classic literature of today, like the works of Shakespeare, was itself a form of populist entertainment at the time of its production. Putting Pokémon into the Van Gogh Museum was certainly an effective way to draw in a new audience, especially with a more youthful crowd. It proved too effective, as it also attracted the attention of scalpers, and even compelled employees to imperil their jobs. The felt hat Pikachu is not even among Pokémon TCG’s most expensive Pikachu cards, yet it caused the museum ample havoc.

The best reason to keep fine art separated from pop culture might simply be the behavior norms associated with each of them. Predatory tactics or even physical aggression associated with procuring scarce GPUs, a PlayStation 5, or a rare trading card, are hardly eyebrow-raising. Art museums may not require reverence, but they do typically expect a certain degree of respectful behavior, considering the legacies of formative artists they display. Going forward, it might be best if the Pokémon Trading Card Game keeps its rare cards further from priceless art.

Sources: Het Parool, The Official Pokémon YouTube channel, Polygon