The Second Largest Collection of Van Gogh Paintings

I selected this museum because there is such a fascination in the world with Vincent Van Gogh as not just an artist who spearheaded the impressionist movement with his works, but because of his brilliant, but deeply tragic life. Books, movies, TV and other media show that we’ve never lost our curiosity about the man.

The Kröller-Müller Museum is a perfect way to fill up on the master’s works. With more than 90 paintings and 180 drawings, you can see the span of Van Gogh’s life as he went from subject to subject, and glean something of what was going on in his head at various stages of his life.
Among the most famous of his works there are The Terrace Café at Night (Arles, 1888), The Potato Eaters in Brabant (1885), Four Sunflowers Gone to Seed (1887), The Olive Trees (1889), Portrait of Joseph Roulin (1889) and numerous self portraits

Among the most famous of his works there are The Terrace Café at Night (Arles, 1888), The Potato Eaters in Brabant (1885), Four Sunflowers Gone to Seed (1887), The Olive Trees (1889), Portrait of Joseph Roulin (1889) and numerous self portraits.

The collection began accruing when one of the first art critics and dealers to recognize Van Gogh’s genius, H.P. Bremmer, brought him to the attention of Helen Helene Kröller-Müller, an avid art collector, whose husband came from The Netherland’s leading trading and industrialist family. After years of acquiring works by Van Gogh (along with Lucas Cranach the Elder, Vincent van Gogh, Georges Seurat, Albert Gleizes, Juan Gris, Bart van der Leck, Piet Mondrian and Diego Rivera, among others), she donated the collection to the state in 1935. The museum was opened three years later,  and has since added a world famous sculpture garden. The museum was built on the extensive grounds of her and her husband’s former estate which is now the Hoge Veluwe National Park  national park. Also still to be seen in the park is a very unique and stunning hunting lodge that the Kröller-Müller’s commissioned in 1917 as a place to house their guests when staying over to hunt and enjoy the natural surroundings—including a tower from which to see a wide panorama.

Lust for Life by Irving Stone is a leading novel that spans Van Gosh’s life.

This Article was featured in the Summer, 2025 issue of The Historic Traveler Magazine.