Nationaal Park De Hoge Veluwe Things to Do

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After the Van Gogh Museum in Amsterdam, this museum posesses the second largest collection of Van Gogh pictures. It started as private collection of Helene Kroeller-Mueller, member of a wealthy family, in Den Haag. Helene Kroeller-Mueller began this collection in a quite simple way: By acquiring those paitings which received bad critics for their modern style, buying them for low prices. So, not only Van Goghs made their way into this collections, but also works from Picasso, Cezanne, Gauguin, Renoir and many others. The present building was opened in 1938, after Kroeller-Mueller decided to give her collection to the state of the Netherlands. This was expanded again in the 1970s. It is easy to spend two hours in the museum and even if you have kids, they won’t be bored. There is a kind of detective game where kids have to look for details of different paintings. It keeps them entertained and maybe it is also educative.

The museum is well-known for its huge collection of modern sculptures which are placed in a park behind the museum. The park can only be visited by entering the museum. It is divided in beeldentuin (sculpture garden) and beeldenbos (sculpture woods), but noone knows why there is this division. I don’t have the slightest idea how many sculptures there are there in total, but I would guess that the number is around one hundred.

BTW; look at the sculpture in picture 4 and ask yourself if you observe or are being observed. The tree on picture 5 is a cutting from a tree which survived the nuclear bomb attack in Hiroshima. Cuttings like this are planted as a symbol of peace all over the world.

We only saw this from the outside but it is certainly an impressive country residence that once belonged to Mr and Mrs Kroller Muller and was designed by the Dutch architect Berlage.
The shape of the building is that of stags horns or antlers and it is named after Saint Hubert who is the patron saint of hunters.
This dramatic building over looks a lake and there is a small tea house with a small tea garden close to the lake. There are public toilets here too.

A magnicent display of paintings, sculpture and modern art that belongs to the Dutch state. The building that houses the collection is a pleasing low building that has accesable for all galleries and a cafe and gift shop. The cafe is called Monsiuerjacques and although we did not go in in seemed very pleasant. See www.monsieurjacques.nl/
Art wise something for everyone - the collection of the museum consists of the extensive collection of works by Vincent van Gogh - one of the most impressive overviews of his work. George Seurat, Pablo Picasso, Fernand Léger, Piet Mondriaan and other artist are also represented .
My favourite painting was one of Dutch colonial troops waiting embarkation at Rotterdam for the Dutch East Indies.

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Just north of the city of Arnhem is the National Park "De Hoge Veluwe" which is one of the Netherlands' biggest national parks.

It consists mainly of the largest tracts of remaining forest in the Netherlands but here you will also find undulating heathlands and drift sands plus museums.

The park is delightfully criss crossed with well marked walking and cycle trails. It's a beautiful respite from the hectic cities and towns of this highly urbanised nation.

See the text below taken from their website. This is really easy going, just take a white bike to a location in the park, visit that location and cycle away on an other bike, because of the fact that your bike is already in use by another person!

The white bicylcle is clearly one of the most well-known features of the Park. As a visitor you are allowed to use the White Bicycles in order to be able to reach all the special places of the Park. And there are no extra costs involved. In total the Park has 1700 bicycles. They can be found at the entrances (Hoenderloo, Otterlo and Schaarsbergen), at the Kröller-Müller Museum, the St. Hubertus Hunting Lodge and in the centre of the Park. When you enter the Park, you can get on your bike right away!

Opening hours Visitors Centre and Museonder
April - October, daily 09.30 a.m. to 5.00 p.m.
November to March, daily 09.30 a.m. to 6.00 p.m.

Here you can by some gifts, get information about the park and rent the bike to cycle yor way through the park.

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Museonder

See how the rootsystem of an old tree looks like. What does a mole see between the earth. How is life in the ground we walk on. Get to know everything from the National Park and its inhabitants. At free translation of "Museonder" would be "Museum down below"

Opening hours
Daily from 10.00 to 17.00 hrs.

The Kröller-Müller Museum is world-famous for its exhibit of Vincent van Gogh, but we were unlucky enough to visit when that wind of the museum was undergoing repairs so was closed to the public. But there are also works by George Seurat, Pablo Picasso, Fernand Leger, Piet Mondriaan and others. You can find more information on the websites of the Hoge Veluwe and also the KMM (Kroller-Mueller Museum).