All activities / Museums & Galleries / Otterlo
Museums & Galleries in Otterlo
A village on the edge of De Hoge Veluwe National Park in Gelderland, gateway to the heath, forest and drift sand of the central Netherlands. It is best known as the home of the Kroller-Muller Museum, which holds one of the world's great Van Gogh collections deep inside the park.
Why here
The Kroller-Muller Museum is the reason art lovers cross the country to a forest in Gelderland, and the setting is half the point. It holds one of the finest Van Gogh collections in the world, close to 90 paintings and more than 180 drawings gathered by Helene Kroller-Muller in the early 20th century, from the Cafe Terrace at Night to the cypresses and the sowers, hung alongside Seurat, Mondrian and Picasso. The museum opened in 1938 inside De Hoge Veluwe National Park, and around it spreads one of the largest sculpture gardens in Europe, some 25 hectares and around 200 works by Hepworth, Dubuffet, Serra and others set among trees and lawns. You reach it through the park itself, and the park hands out around 2,000 free white bicycles at its gates, so the classic way to arrive is to pedal in across the heath, past red deer and wild boar, and come to the art through the landscape. It is a museum, a sculpture park and a national park in one, and it wants a full unhurried day.
Best months
The museum is open Tuesday to Sunday year round, daily in July and August, while the park is open every day; both the sculpture garden and the surrounding heath are at their best from spring to autumn, roughly April to October, when the free white bicycles make the most sense. Winter visits focus on the indoor galleries. The park charges its own entry on top of the museum ticket. Wildlife, red deer, wild boar and mouflon, is most active and most visible in the early morning and toward dusk.
Getting there & around
The museum sits deep inside De Hoge Veluwe National Park; you pay park admission at the gate (Otterlo, Hoenderloo or Schaarsbergen) plus the museum ticket, then cover the last few kilometres on a free white bicycle, on foot or by the park bus. By public transport, take a train to Apeldoorn, Arnhem or Ede-Wageningen and a connecting bus to the Otterlo entrance. Allow a full day for the galleries, the sculpture garden and the ride through the park, and bring layers, as the heath is open and exposed.
Skill levels: beginner
Schools & guides (2)
Het Nationale Park De Hoge Veluwe
OrganizerDe Hoge Veluwe is a national park of roughly 5,400 hectares of heath, forest and drift sand in Gelderland, created from the estate of Anton and Helene Kroller-Muller and home to red deer, wild boar and mouflon. It lends visitors around 2,000 free white bicycles, and contains both the Kroller-Muller Museum and the Jachthuis Sint Hubertus hunting lodge designed by Berlage. Its gates at Otterlo, Hoenderloo and Schaarsbergen open one of the largest nature reserves in the country.
Kroller-Muller Museum
OrganizerThe Kroller-Muller Museum in Otterlo holds one of the world's finest Van Gogh collections, close to 90 paintings and over 180 drawings assembled by Helene Kroller-Muller. It opened in 1938 inside De Hoge Veluwe National Park and is wrapped by one of the largest sculpture gardens in Europe, around 25 hectares with some 200 works by artists including Barbara Hepworth, Jean Dubuffet and Marta Pan. The galleries also hold Seurat, Mondrian and other early moderns.