People can’t go to the Van Gogh museum at the moment – so the museum is bringing its masterpieces to the people.

The museum is asking the Dutch to nominate a friend, neighbour or colleague who deserves a bit of a lift to receive a perfect, 3D reproduction of one of Van Gogh’s nine most famous works.

Five winners will be selected by Tuesday and on Thursday the ‘museum edition’ versions of the works will be delivered to their homes for a two-week loan. The museum promises that the versions are ‘almost impossible to distinguish from the originals.’ One will even have the gift delivered by the museum’s new director, Emilie Gordenker.

Then, the museum promises, the next five winners will have a selection of the nine (almost) masterpieces to hang in their home galleries for a fortnight.

The museum has dreamed up the initiative inspired by one of Vincent van Gogh’s letters where he wrote to his brother: ‘It’s not about feeling hope for better times [ahead] – it’s about doing something right now.’

‘The museum hopes to welcome visitors again in Amsterdam soon,’ it said in a statement. ‘Until then, a lot of visitors and fans fortunately know how to find us online. The museum has been sharing video tours of its vast collection, a 360 degree virtual reality tour of our exhibition In the Picture, and last Tuesday the first painting workshop video.’

The world-famous institution hopes to open its doors alongside other Dutch museums and galleries from June 1.