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Kroller-Muller Museum is a hidden gem for Van Gogh fans

On a recent trip, my wife and I found the Kroller-Muller Museum to be a delight, especially for Van Gogh fan(atics). It's in the Netherlands about 1.5 hours east of Amsterdam near Arnhem and can be reached by public transportation (note that my spelling of the museum name does not include the accent marks above the o and u).

The Kroller-Muller has the 2nd largest collection of Van Gogh's in the world, 87 paintings they say, plus additional materials such as drawings and a number of paintings by some of Van Gogh's contemporaries and/or early modern successors.

The museum is located roughly 1.25 to 1.5 hours east of Amsterdam, and can be reached from Amsterdam by train to one of two nearby towns, and then one or two buses from the train station to the national park in which the Museum is located. I recommend reading Rick's detailed instructions on getting there by train and bus, his instructions are in his "Amsterdam & The Netherlands" guidebook.

In addition to its extensive collections of Van Gogh paintings and drawings, the museum has an extensive, delightful sculpture garden and also a tasty lunch venue. It's actually located at the edge of one of The Netherland's larger national parks. The location is maybe 15 miles west-northwest of Arnhem, the site of the "Market Garden" airborne operation's failed attempt to end the war by Christmas (1944).

If you do both this museum and Amsterdam's Van Gogh Museum, then in one trip you will have seen a significant percentage of the Van Gogh paintings in the world that are in publicly-available collections!

Posted by
2299 posts

Thank you. This museum has been on my list for a long time and is slowly inching toward the top!

Posted by
14725 posts

Thank you so much for posting this! I am cheating on Rick and going on a Road Scholar Art and History of Belgium and Holland next October. One of the days from Amsterdam we do a day trip to this museum. It looks like we spend the full day there, guided tour in the AM, then free time to see the museum's Garden of Statues after lunch. I had actually been meaning to do a little research on this museum so now you've really piqued my interest!

Thanks and glad you had a delightful time!

editing to add: Janet and I were cross-posting so it looks like the Idaho travel contingent will be seeing some Van Goghs!

Posted by
4100 posts

We stayed in the Netherlands for 3 weeks this spring and an excursion to this museum and the nearby Open Air Nuseum at Arnhem were the only day we drove a car rather than take public transportation. We did the museum in the morning and the open air museum in the afternoon. It was a wonderful but full day!

Posted by
248 posts

Also adding that the Kroller-Muller CAN be reached by public transportation from Amsterdam. We recently did it, about an hour east of Amsterdam by train and then about a half hour to connect from the train station to the museum using one or two buses. Rick has detailed instructions, in his Amsterdam book, on how to do this--it works.

The Kroller-Muller has Van Gogh's that some may not have seen in books. The museum has a good website as well. It also has works by artists who influenced, and were influenced by, Van Gogh.

Posted by
4100 posts

We weighed our late start, desire to see both sites with shortened spring daylight hours and decided we’d hate to miss a bus connection and shortchange either attraction. It can be done if you are very efficient using Rick’s detailed directions. It just wasn’t going to work for us on that particular Sunday.

Posted by
248 posts

Doing both the Kroller-Muller and the Open Air Museum would be a very full day--doing just the Kroller-Muller worked for us.

Posted by
672 posts

Visited the Kroller-Muller Museum in 2010. It is a gem. If you also have some time to explore the Hoge Veluwe National Park (free bikes, I recall), do it.

Posted by
248 posts

Wanted to add that just tonight my wife and I starting working a jigsaw puzzle of the Café Terrace at Night, one of the Kroller-Muller Museum's better known Van Goghs. When we were in Arles (previous trip) we dined on the café terrace, I assume it's been rebuilt but resembles (pretty much) the one in the painting (unfortunately, the restaurant has been unable to add the starry night...oh well).