"National Park and Kröller-Müller art... " a Otterlo Travel Page by annase

Otterlo is a small village in the province of Gelderland, near the National Park of Hoge Veluwe (Nationaal Park De Hoge Veluwe) - probably the most significant sight in the village. Previously, this park belonged to the family of an art collector Helene Kröller-Müller who turned their 6,000- hectare estate into a National Park before her death in 1939. It is now the largest park in The Netherlands, with wildlife and visitors freely traversing its moors, vast forests, expanses of grassland, and sand drifts.

Another significant sight in the village (or actually within the national park) is the Kröller-Müller Art Museum, named after Helene Kröller-Müller. The museum houses the second largest collection of works by Vincent van Gogh (93 paintings and 183 drawings) in the world (after the Van Gogh Museum in Amsterdam).

In addition to van Gogh, other highlights include works by Seurat, Monet, Gauguin, Picasso, Gris, Courbet, Corot, Millet, Mondrian, van der Leck and Redon. The museum is also famous for its large sculpture garden, which includes works by Auguste Rodin, Henry Moore and Joep van Lieshout. The visit will give you everything you came for, but you’ll be surprised at everything else.

Helene Kröller-Müller was one of the first to recognize Van Gogh's genius and collect his works. She married Dutchman Anton Kröller, who soon turned her industrialist father’s business into a multinational giant in the early 20th century. This enabled Kröller-Muller to give time to collecting art, often purchasing works directly from the artist’s studio. In 1935, she donated her whole collection to the state of the Netherlands, which built a museum to house it. In 1938 the museum, designed by Henry van de Velde opened. A sculpture garden of 21 hectares was added in 1961, a new exhibition wing, designed by Wim Quist, opened in 1977, and a sculpture wood and park in 1988.