August 6 De Hoge Veluwe National Park and the Kröller-Müller Legacy
Our wonderful cottage is only 7 KM from the famous Kröller-Müller Museum, the second largest holding of Van Gogh paintings in the world second only to the Dutch national museum in Amsterdam. The museum is the crown jewel of the De Hoge Veluwe National Park.
Helene Kröller-Müller (born Helene Emma Laura Juliane Müller; 1869–1939) was a trailblazing art collector, philanthropist, and the visionary force behind the world-renowned Kröller-Müller Museum. She was one of the first women in Europe to assemble a major collection of modern art, and her relentless advocacy for artists—particularly Vincent van Gogh—fundamentally shaped art history..
The De Hoge Veluwe National Park is now known as “The green treasure trove of the Netherlands”, over 13 thousand acres preserving the cultural estate of the Kröller-Müller’s. A fascinating story: in the 1880’s Anton Mueller became an apprentice at Müller & Co a small shipping company in central Netherlands. Through this connection he met the daughter Helene Müller and thus began a partnership that continues to bring benefits to the region. They were married in 1888 and Anton became manager of the company bringing it into the global supply arena including the Dutch East India Company. In 20 years she assembled a collection of 800 paintings, 300 sculptures and 5000 drawings. They lived in this tiny town of Harskamp for 30 years. During the same time they collected property and built an elaborate ‘hunting Lodge’ where they entertained global political and business leaders. Helene’s dream was to leave a lasting legacy and in 1935 the foundation was established. In 1938 Helene opened the combined national park and museum that is now the largest foundation-owned preserve in the Netherlands. It includes, in addition to the world famous art museum, the St Hubertus Hunting Lodge, an educational science museum of all things living underground, and a vast network of cycling and walking trails that enable visitors to immerse themselves and experience this remarkable preserve.
The Kroeller-Mueller Museum also includes the Rietveld Pavilion, designed in 1954 by the Dutch architect Gerrit Rietveld (1888 – 1964) to host an international sculpture exhibition in Arnhem. In 1964 the now legendary pavilion was rebuilt on the grounds of Kroeller-Mueller museum sculpture garden to house rotating exhibitions and events. The pavilion is constructed of simple materials employing Rietveld’s classical style of stark horizontal and vertical elements placed so that the space and light of the pavilion reinforces the sculptures on display.
De Hoge Veluwe national park includes a network of 25 miles of bicycle trails connecting the features of the estate. The park admission fee of 13.50 Euros covers everything you need to explore them. For those not arriving on bicycles the preserve maintains 1800 “white bicycles” positioned at stops around the park. The bicycles are of varying sizes and carrying capacities for families to use as they explore the park. No reservations or locks needed… simply pickup at one stop and leave at the next. There are so many you can always count on finding the bike you need at any stop to explore the entire park. The park incudes a complete maintenance facility that also helps visitors bringing their own bikes. They fixed our bike’s pesky loose mirrors that required an odd and unusual sized Allen key. What a great idea for US parks and preserves – except it wouldn’t work – not enough people in the US are willing and able to ride a simple bicycle.
