
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
The Vengeance of Hop-FrogJames Ensor, 1896
View of Bazincourt, February, SunriseCamille Pissarro, 1893
Aan de duinzoomJan Toorop, 1898
A family gathering in an orchardThéo van Rysselberghe, 1890
Afternoon SunLeo Gestel, 1908
After the StrikeJan Toorop, 1889
A Pig's CarcassAdriaen van Ostade, 1665
Appels met landschapCharley Toorop, 1946
AutumnJan Toorop, 1908
Backwater in LondonJan Toorop, 1885
Bottle and PitcherJuan Gris, 1911
Bottles and KnifeJuan Gris, 1912
Bowl and PotJuan Gris, 1912
Boys with a DoveJan Toorop, 1888
BreakfastFloris van Schooten, 1615
Bridge in LondonJan Toorop, 1888
Building of the Tower of BabelHendrick van Cleve III, 1550
Café-Chantant in the Nes in AmsterdamIsaac Israëls, 1893
CompositionOtto Freundlich, 1933
Composition XVIII in Three PartsTheo van Doesburg, 1920
Cubist Still LifeJuan Gris, 1915
DancersTheo van Doesburg, 1916
Day in WinterXavier Mellery
Death at the BallFélicien Rops, 1870