Jan Hulsker (2 October 1907, The Hague - 9 November 2002, Vancouver) studied Dutch literature in Leiden and was promoted with a thesis on the author Aart van der Leeuw.
In 1953, he was appointed to the Ministerie van Cultuur, Recreatie en Maatschappelijk werk, in charge of the art department. In 1959, he became general director in charge of culture at large (directeur-generaal voor culturele zaken). The establishment of the Vincent van Gogh Foundation and the Van Gogh Museum in Amsterdam were among his major tasks.
From the 1950s, Hulsker contributed to Van Gogh research, concentrating on the dating of Van Gogh's correspondence. In 1973, Hulsker's most important study was published, Van Gogh door Van Gogh, which has not been translated from the Dutch.
In the 1980s, Hulsker left the Netherlands and settled in Vancouver, Canada, where he died in 2002.