Chaotic Pokémon collaboration with the Van Gogh museum sees one final twist as staff suspended for allegedly stealing cards and leaking insider info

September 2023 provided a prime example of why we can't have nice things, as an anniversary collaboration between Amsterdam's Van Gogh museum and the Pokémon Company descended into scalper-fuelled chaos. The event was intended to celebrate the museum's 50th anniversary and featured Van Gogh-inspired art of Pokémon by key series artists: but the big mistake was that attendance came with a limited-edition Pokémon card.

As soon as the exhibition opened, it was flooded by unscrupulous individuals looking to get as many cards as they could, and sell them online at a huge mark-up. The card in question is Pikachu with Grey Felt Hat, inspired by Van Gogh's Self-Portrait with Grey Felt Hat, and currently goes on eBay for anything between $100-350. Just over two weeks after opening, the Van Gogh museum threw its hands up, and stopped distributing the cards entirely.

The exhibition nevertheless continued as scheduled until its closing date on January 7, 2024. And now one further twist, first reported by the Dutch paper Het Parool, is that four employees of the Van Gogh museum were suspended in relation to the Pokémon exhibition in mid-December, specifically on suspicions of stealing cards and breaking the code of conduct.

One of the staff is accused of stealing a box of the Pokémon cards. Another, who had apparently been employed for 25 years, is said to have failed to follow «procedures and codes of conduct» by informing others on the best times to secure tickets and when the cards would be available.

The Van Gogh museum confirmed to Het Parool that it was dealing with incidents concerning «a number of employees from operational services», which includes security guards and cashiers. The museum did not officially confirm how many employees are involved, though the paper reports four based on museum sources, and a Van Gogh spokesperson declared with some understatement that «we emphasize that we view this as an incident.» The spokesperson went on to say that none are expected