van gogh is coming

Vincent van Gogh's rare art comes to Texas in this blockbuster exhibition

Dallas fans of Vincent van Gogh should plan to go to Houston next spring. The Museum of Fine Arts, Houston has announced it will present a major new Vincent van Gogh survey to open in March.

Featuring portraits, landscapes, and still lifes in “Vincent van Gogh: His Life in Art” will do more than present some of the artist’s greatest masterpieces but will also tell Van Gogh’s life story through his work.

The exclusive exhibition will be a major collaboration with the Van Gogh Museum, Amsterdam, and the Kröller-Müller Museum, Otterlo (which, together, hold the largest collections in the world of Van Gogh’s work), and will include some 50 seldom-loaned paintings and drawings from throughout the decade of Van Gogh’s career.

“This exhibition will offer visitors a vivid portrait of Van Gogh’s evolution as an artist,” describes MFAH Director Gary Tinterow in a statement. “We are grateful to the Van Gogh and Kröller-Müller Museums for lending so many of these rarely traveled masterworks from their collections for this exclusive presentation here in Houston.”

With a rich focus on Van Gogh’s life rather than just his death, the exhibition will also give insights into the places of Van Gogh’s life. “Vincent van Gogh: His Life in Art” will allow MFAH visitors to meet a young Van Gogh as a learning artist in the Dutch village of Nuenen, follow him to Paris where he would be inspired by fellow artists and vibrant city life and travel with him to the countryside, back to nature, where we’ll discover the Van Gogh of bright colors that we love so well.

“The popular story of Van Gogh has tended to focus on his last few years and his death,” says David Bomford, curator of the exhibition. “But there is a rich and complex narrative that starts much earlier, one that is defined by Van Gogh’s tremendous drive to become an artist.”

To paint a more detailed and intricate portrait of the mind and genius of Van Gogh, the exhibition will also include facsimiles of Van Gogh’s letters throughout the galleries.

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“Vincent van Gogh: His Life in Art” will be on view at the Museum of Fine Arts, Houston, from March 10 to June 27, 2019.

Vincent van Gogh, In the Café: Agostina Segatoriin Le Tambourin, January–March 1887, oil on canvas, Van Gogh Museum, Amsterdam.

Courtesy of Vincent van Gogh Foundation

Vincent van Gogh, In the Café: Agostina Segatoriin Le Tambourin, January–March 1887, oil on canvas, Van Gogh Museum, Amsterdam.

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DART News

DART receives $7 million federal grant for new low-emission buses

Gillig

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Dallas Area Rapid Transit (DART) has received a grant to update its fleet of buses. According to a release, the agency was awarded a $7.094 million grant from the Federal Transit Administration to support the purchase of new buses as the agency phases out its fleet of older model vehicles.

The grant awarded to DART is one of 165 transit projects across the U.S. funded with more than $2 billion in federal grants.

In February, DART purchased 476 Compressed Natural Gas (CNG) buses from Gillig, a California-based manufacturer of heavy-duty transit buses, to fulfill their goal to modernize their transit system over the next decade — particularly via new buses and light-rail vehicles to replace the oldest units in their aging fleet.

The phase-in of those new vehicles is expected to be executed through 2027.

Compressed Natural Gas (CNG)-powered buses are a near-zero emission option, which was a key component in DART qualifying for the federal grant. Gillig has already delivered the first buses ahead of a Spring 2026 timeline — meaning that DART riders will get to start riding the upgraded buses on routes by the end of December 2025.

In a statement, DART President & CEO Nadine Lee says the timing is perfect.

“The timing of this grant couldn’t be better as we begin to receive early delivery of new, state-of-the-art vehicles from Gillig and as we move ahead with preparations to provide service to the massive crowds we expect next year with the FIFA World Cup," Lee says. "We are grateful to U.S. Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy, FTA Administrator Marcus Molinaro, and our entire congressional delegation for valuing their strong federal partnership with DART, recognizing the need to find additional funding to support transit programs in one of the fastest growing metro areas in the nation."

This new grant is in addition to $103 million initial federal grants, bringing the total federal support for DART’s purchase of new buses to more than $110 million – reducing the overall cost to DART and member cities.

U.S. Congressional delegates, representing communities across Texas, were instrumental in securing the funding for the grant. The purchase of 476 buses is one part of DART’s Transform, a $2.5 billion 10-year plan to modernize and upgrade the DART system.

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