London ( CNN ) -- Its windows are boarded up , the red-painted exterior is peeling and the roof could do with re-tiling -- but this derelict house in a village in the Borinage region of Belgium was once the home of Dutch artist Vincent van Gogh . The house and surrounding industrial area , in the village of Petit Wasmes , might not look too impressive , but it was here that Van Gogh decided to become an artist . Now local authorities have agreed a deal with the owner of the house to rent it for 27 years , with the aim of turning it into a museum and possibly a guest-house , in time for the city 's partnership with neighboring Mons , the European Capital of Culture in 2015 . An exhibition covering Van Gogh 's time in the region is planned for the Mons Museum of Fine Arts , while a documentary exploring the artist 's life as an evangelical preacher among the mining community there is also in the works , with the house sure to feature . `` There is [ currently ] no one living in the house , '' said Gregory Dufert , a spokesperson for the municipality of Colfontaine . `` You have four walls , you have something that looks like a roof and that 's it . '' The municipality plans to fully restore the house , so that it will eventually look as it did when Van Gogh lived there . It is an important cultural resource to the local area , said Dufert . `` We are a very poor region and it 's really amazing to know that someone as celebrated as Vincent van Gogh stayed there , '' he said . According to Teio Meedendorp , an expert on Van Gogh at the Van Gogh Museum in Amsterdam , local people in the Borinage still `` have a lot of sympathy for Vincent himself , because he had an eye for their needs and troubles . '' Van Gogh 's humanistic side was developed during this time and he even tried to endure the same hardships as the impoverished miners , said Meedendorp . But it was when he was discharged from his job as a preacher that he made the decision , on the advice of his brother , to become an artist . `` It was a struggle to make this decision and he had to work really hard , which is what he did -- he drew hundreds and hundreds of drawings before he saw himself fit to be an artist , '' said Meedendorp . Few of these early sketches survive , but a drawing entitled `` Mine workers in the snow '' from 1880 and in the collection at the Kroller-Muller Museum in Otterlo , the Netherlands , depicts workers trudging towards a mine which looms darkly in the background . In a letter to his brother in 1880 , Van Gogh said of the drawing : `` I have made a hasty scribble of miners and haulers ( both boys and girls ) going to the shaft in the morning through the snow , by a path along a thorn hedge ; passing shadows , dimly visible in the twilight . '' According to Meedendorp , there is very little evidence left of Van Gogh 's time in the Borinage , which is why the house is so important . The area , too , is changing rapidly , with the mining industry now almost completely gone . `` I have a lot of sympathy for that region , '' said Meedendorp . `` From the tourist point of view [ the house ] would help the region get some attention , '' he said . Van Gogh lovers will hopefully be able to visit the restored house in 2015 . And for those who ca n't wait , an exhibition entitled `` Van Gogh Up Close '' opens at the Philadelphia Museum of Art in February , while the Van Gogh Museum in Amsterdam is currently focusing on Van Gogh 's studio practice .
Local authority in Belgium working to save Van Gogh 's one-time home from dereliction . Municipality of Colfontaine , Belgium , plans to restore house , turn it into museum . Score: 6 Major exhibition covering artist 's time there slated for Mons , European Capital of Culture , in 2015 .