The Van Gogh Museum in Amsterdam has ended a funding dispute with the Dutch government that had threatened the future of one of the city's top tourist attractions. On October 8 the museum announced it had reached an agreement with the Ministry of Education, Culture and Science after mediation talks, held to avoid a public court case. The settlement clears the way for a three-year renovation now scheduled to begin in autumn 2028, during which the museum will remain partially open and icons such as Sunflowers, The Bedroom and The Harvest will stay on view. The disagreement had been brewing since at least 2023, when the museum began negotiating with the Ministry of Culture over the cost of long-overdue building works. By the summer of 2025, director Emilie Gordenker told the New York Times the situation had become dangerous for the art and for visitors, and she worried the museum might have to close. The Times reported that year that the renovation was expected to cost $121 million in total, with $88 million earmarked for maintenance and structural modernisation. The museum receives an annual state subsidy of $10 million and had requested nearly $3 million a year more to fund the upgrades, most of which concern climate control, accessibility, fire safety, security and sustainability. The museum's statement did not disclose the exact terms of the settlement, but Gordenker said the institution was relieved and grateful to move forward with what she called an important project. The dispute was complicated by the museum's unusual funding structure. Vincent van Gogh's nephew, also named Vincent, inherited his uncle's unsold works from his mother Jo, Theo van Gogh's widow, and donated the remaining estate — more than 200 paintings, 500 drawings and 800 letters, plus other collected art — to the Vincent van Gogh Foundation. The agreement brings to an end three years of uncertainty over how such a legacy institution keeps its doors open.