
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
Interior with Three WomenJan Toorop, 1885
In the Dunes at DomburgJan Toorop, 1903
KarenJan Veth, 1892
Lady in WhiteJan Toorop, 1886
L'AirAristide Maillol, 1939
Landscape near Saint-AngeGerard Bilders, 1860
Landscape on the Island of WalcherenFerdinand Hart Nibbrig, 1910
Landscape with a trainPaul Joseph Constantin Gabriël, 1887
Landscape with DunesJohannes Josephus Aarts, 1895
Landscape with HaystackJan Vijlbrief
L'apparitionOdilon Redon
Large PénélopeAntoine Bourdelle, 1912
Le centaure et le dragonOdilon Redon, 1908
Le paravent rouge (avec Pégase)Odilon Redon, 1907
Les ParquesOdilon Redon, 1900
Mary Magdalene in the Desert (Meditation)Pierre Puvis de Chavannes, 1869
Meadow LandscapeJan Toorop, 1884
Mechanical ElementFernand Léger, 1920
Nature morte aux aspergesFrançois Bonvin, 1867
OannèsOdilon Redon, 1908
On the IJEduard Karsen, 1890
Peaches in a porcelain bowlAbraham van Calraet, 1690