23 September 2015 - Kroller-Muller Museum

Karl had wanted to visit the Kroller-Muller Museum last time he was in Holland and I had never heard of it until the other day.  It was a private collection of Helene Kroller-Muller of over 11500 works of art including the second largest collection of Van Goghs!  It is now a museum for all! Further, it is nestled in the national park (Hoge Veluwe) through which there are well maintained forest bike paths.

Helene Kroller-Muller is thought to be one of the first European women to establish a major art collection and is also credited as being one of the first collectors to recognise Vincent van Gogh as a gifted painter. The entire collection at this museum was donated to the Dutch people, and along with her husband's (Anton Müller) large forested country estate and iconic hunting lodge combines to make a fantastic day out.  This is where we cycled today!

The choice of bikes was amazing and they were in good condition to ride.

 Luke, who since preschool, when he rode his bike everyday, has refused to ride a bike,  decided that today he'd try!  The junior bikes were just the right size for him and after a bit of self doubt, he took off and rode his bike! A great triumph for us all!  The bikes supplied did have child seats if needed but Luke really did want to try today and that was most of the battle.  He was so proud of himself, so that is one achievement to tick off!

Dappled light and sunny day to cycle through de Hoge Veluwe

We were a little surprised by the entrance fee to the park (42 Euros) which included "free" use of the bikes supplied (1800 of them to choose from!) and car parking fee.  The museum entry was separate but was included on our Museumkaart.  The track from this car park was 5.4km to the museum but there were other choices of distance, however, this was the car park we ended up at!

De Hoge Veluwe

The ride through the forest was so so lovely with leaves just starting to turn as well as meadows of long grasses.  There were many little paths and signs about deer and we would have loved to explore more but our goal was the Kroller-Muller Museum.

Grassy meadows

We sat for lunch on a small hillock in the forest before we headed to the museum.

Our lunch hillock - not many of these in Holland

Luke hoovering the hagel!

The Kroller-Muller Museum

Nature's art!

 The collection is of early Van Goghs including pen and ink drawings as well as some well known paintings and other paintings by Renoir, Monet, Picasso, Pissaro and others.  The surrounding sculpture garden was also lovely.  I was most delighted that photography was permitted at this gallery - or at least no one told me otherwise!  At the Van Gogh Museum in Amsterdam, no photography is allowed but today I was snapping happily at the visual feast before my eyes!  We had hoped that Luke with his new bike riding skills would have been in a slightly more cooperative mood so we ended up taking turns to see the galleries we wanted to.

Early Van Gogh - pen and ink of windmills

Van Gogh - Girl in a wood

Jean Baptiste Camille Corot - Seasons over M Henry's factory

 

Paul Cezanne - The Road leading to the Lake.

Van Gogh - Pink peach tree

Cypresses with two figures

Van Gogh - In the garden of the Asylum

Van Gogh - Bridge to Arles

 

Van Gogh - Cornfields with maize and sun

Van Gogh - Landscape with corn sheafs

Van Gogh - The Sower (a la Millet)  Some paintings similar to these were in the Van Gogh Museum in Amsterdam from Van Gogh's early days when he was teaching himself techniques by looking a master painters.

Monet - Studio boat: I am always happy to see a Monet I haven't seen before!

Auguste Renoir- Au cafe  a lovely Renoir is always a delight!

Van Gogh - At Eternity's Gate

Van Gogh -  Four sunflowers gone to seed.  In my opinion, this should be hung next to (or at least around the corner from) the famous Sunflowers painting in the Van Gogh Museum!

Van Gogh - Moulin de la Galette  - early style

Van Gogh - Cafe at night   I was most excited to see this painting!

Van Gogh -  Views of Saintes-Maries-de-la-Mer

 

Theo van Rysselberghe - Bouloogne - sur - Mer

Henry van de Velde - Lane of trees

Jean-Francois Millet - End of the Hamlet of Gruchy

Pablo Picasso - Guitarre

As I wandered through some of the modern paintings with Tim while Karl had taken Luke outside for some energy usage,  I was thinking that they were almost Picasso like and in fact two were!  I really liked the two Picassos on display - no distorted faces or body parts, just recognisable musical instruments!

Pablo Picasso - Violin

Piet Mondrian - Composition in colour A

Enjoying the easel!

Sculpture Garden

 The dark clouds were gathering and we did stop for a brief play at a magnificent playground but just made it back to the car park as the rain came down.

Playground at Centrum de Hoge Veluwe

Hello!  The talking trees in The Enchanted Wood!

Loving our family ride

...and half an hour later it was POURING!

Lovely to see my three kids on bikes!

Framed

Finding a spot to hang our bikes!

The car drive back to Ouderkerk a/d Amstel was slow but we arrived home safely after Tom Tom redirected us several times to avoid delays.  Spag (pasta) Bolognaise for dinner!