
The story
To reach this museum you cross a national park, often on one of the free white bicycles, riding through the heath and pine of the Hoge Veluwe. The forest was once the private estate of Anton and Helene Kröller-Müller, and the art inside is Helene's life's work. Between 1908 and 1929 she bought on an extraordinary scale, convinced that Vincent van Gogh was a great modern master before most of the world agreed, and she gathered nearly 90 of his paintings and more than 180 drawings.
That makes it the largest Van Gogh holding after the Van Gogh Museum, and here his work hangs in daylight and quiet, from sombre early Dutch heads to the blazing Café Terrace at Night, painted in Arles. Helene gave her collection and the estate to the Dutch state, and the museum, designed by the Belgian architect Henry van de Velde, opened in 1938, low and horizontal so the rooms open onto the woods.
The other half of a visit is outside. The sculpture garden, laid out from 1961, spreads over around 30 hectares of lawn and forest and is one of the largest in Europe, with works by Rodin, Barbara Hepworth, Jean Dubuffet and Claes Oldenburg set among the trees. A giant trowel driven into the grass and a mirrored maze turn the walk between them into part of the art.
Collection
284 works
Rotterdam, the mill, the canal, the morningPaul Signac, 1906
Self portrait by Vincent van GoghVincent van Gogh, 1887
Sheaves of Wheat in a FieldVincent van Gogh, 1885
Smoked HerringsVincent van Gogh, 1886
SowerVincent van Gogh, 1881
Sower with BasketVincent van Gogh, 1881
Still Life: Potatoes in a Yellow DishVincent van Gogh, 1888
Still Life with Apple Basket, Meat and Bread RollsVincent van Gogh, 1886
Still Life with Basket of ApplesVincent van Gogh, 1887
Still Life with ClogsVincent van Gogh, 1881
Still Life with Meadow Flowers and RosesVincent van Gogh, 1886
The Old Tower at NuenenVincent van Gogh, 1884
The Potato EatersVincent van Gogh, 1885
The Seine at MantesPaul Signac, 1899
Tree Trunks with IvyVincent van Gogh, 1889
Two CypressesPaul Signac, 1893
Two Peasant Women Digging PotatoesVincent van Gogh, 1885
Vase with daisies and anemonesVincent van Gogh, 1887
Vase with red and white carnation on a yellow backgroundVincent van Gogh, 1886
View of ColliourePaul Signac, 1887
Weaver Arranging ThreadsVincent van Gogh, 1884
Wheat Field with Reaper and SunVincent van Gogh, 1889
A woman baking breadJean-François Millet, 1854
Beach with three or four piers at DomburgPiet Mondrian, 1909
Compositie in lijnPiet Mondrian, 1916