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The house where Van Gogh lodged in the Borinage, where he was an evangelist among the coalminers, is falling down. Legal measures are being taken by the local authority to compulsorily purchase the dilapidated building. The plan is to restore it and open it to visitors from 2015, the year when the neighbouring city of Mons will be European Capital of Culture, The Art Newspaper reported.

Van Gogh went to the village of Wasmes, in the Borinage in western Belgium, in December 1878. He initially lodged with a farmer, Jean-Baptiste Denis, who lived in Rue du Petit-Wasmes, now 221 Rue Wilson. The Dutchman, who was then 25, had virtually no money, and he lived a life of abject poverty, sometimes even giving away his clothes to the poor.

Van Gogh had already begun to draw, and six drawings from the Borinage survive. However, most of his work from this period was lost, including sketches of Denis’ family made during his seven-month stay.

The modest Denis house, which has a commemorative plaque, has been unoccupied for around two decades and is now dilapidated, with its windows boarded up. The rear extension has lost part of its roof, and is now in danger of collapsing.