Van Gogh NP walking tour Nuenen

This walking tour takes you through beautiful countryside and past Nuenen’s heritage.

( 2 hour 10 minutes) 10.0 km

Starting point: from your location


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This varied walking tour (10 km) in the footsteps of Vincent van Gogh takes you through the beautiful countryside and along the heritage of Nuenen. You will pass through the lovely nature reserve Nuenens Broek with woods, fields, meadows, vernal pools and the Hooidonkse Beek valley. Further on in this walk you'll pass old hamlets and the church village of Gerwen, where Vincent drew the Sint-Clemens church. You can't get any closer to Vincent than this!

A masterful open-air museum
Vincent van Gogh lived and worked in Nuenen from December 1883 to November 1885. It was here that he produced almost a quarter of his total oeuvre and painted his first masterpiece: The Potato Eaters. Nuenen and its surroundings can be seen as an open-air museum. Nowhere else are there so many buildings, sculptures and landscapes which have a direct relationship with Van Gogh. If you want to learn even more about Vincent's Brabant period, then visit the Van Gogh Village Museum, the starting point of this tour!

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This varied walking tour (10 km) in the footsteps of Vincent van Gogh takes you through the beautiful countryside and along the heritage of Nuenen. You will pass through the lovely nature reserve Nuenens Broek with woods, fields, meadows, vernal pools and the Hooidonkse Beek valley. Further on in this walk you'll pass old hamlets and the church village of Gerwen, where Vincent drew the Sint-Clemens church. You can't get any closer to Vincent than this!

A masterful open-air museum
Vincent van Gogh lived and worked in Nuenen from December 1883 to November 1885. It was here that he produced almost a quarter of his total oeuvre and painted his first masterpiece: The Potato Eaters. Nuenen and its surroundings can be seen as an open-air museum. Nowhere else are there so many buildings, sculptures and landscapes which have a direct relationship with Van Gogh. If you want to learn even more about Vincent's Brabant period, then visit the Van Gogh Village Museum, the starting point of this tour!

Van Gogh National Park
The Van Gogh walking tours in the Van Gogh National Park immerse you in the landscape Vincent van Gogh fell in love with. Enjoy the meandering streams, extensive nature reserves, farmland, country estates and greenery that stretches out right into the heart of the villages and towns. The locals are working together to preserve and expand this beautiful, healthy and green living environment. With Vincent van Gogh as their guide. 

Finding the way with numbered junctions
This Van Gogh NP walking tour has been mapped out using the local numbered junction system. You can recognise the route by the signs with the words 'Van Gogh National Park', which you will find on every junction post. Follow the hiking junctions: 04 - 36 - 48 - 49 - 45 - 89 - 78 - 51 - 52 - 53 - 59 - 36 - 04. Between the junctions you can follow the junction system signposts.

Routes reporting point
If you find something wrong with the signage or the route itself, you can report it via the Brabant junction route reporting point. You can also call 0800 4050050 free of charge.

Sights on this route

04

Vlakbij de Heilige Clemenskerk in Nuenen had Vincent van Gogh zijn eerste atelier.

Starting point:

Park 53
5671 GC Nuenen
Heilige Clemenskerk in Nuenen

In 1763 gebouwd als wevershuis. Later wordt het 'kostershuisje' genoemd omdat de eigenaar - koster/organist van de Hervormde Gemeente - hier tot 1967 woonde.

Starting point:

Berg 40
5671CC Nuenen
Wevershuisje

In dit kerkje in Nuenen was de vader van Vincent van Gogh predikant.

Starting point:

Papenvoort 2
5671 CR Nuenen
Van Goghkerkje Nuenen

Deze lindeboom is de belangrijkste boom in Nuenen. Deze dorpslinde staat op de Berg, het dorpsplein van Nuenen. Zelfs Vincent van Gogh heeft deze boom nog gezien.

Starting point:

Berg
Nuenen
Oude Lindeboom Nuenen

Het allereerste monument dat voor Vincent van Gogh in Nederland is onthuld. Het is gemaakt door Hildo Krop.

Starting point:

Berg 44
5671CA Nuenen
Monument voor Vincent van Gogh Monument voor Vincent van Gogh in Nuenen

Treed in de letterlijke voetsporen van Vincent van Gogh en Margot Begemann, in Salon Nune Ville: het ouderlijk huis van Margo, de vrouw met wie Van Gogh een dramatische liefdesaffaire beleefde.

Starting point:

Berg 24
5671 CC Nuenen
Salon Nune Ville
36

In de tijd van Vincent stond hier de boerderij van familie De Groot. In april en mei 1885 schilderde hij uiteindelijk wat hijzelf als zijn eerste volwaardige werk beschouwde: De aardappeleters.

Starting point:

Gerwenseweg 4
5674 SG Nuenen
Woning de Aardappeleters

Het voormalig wevershuis Pieter Dekkers, De molen De Roosdonck en de Opwettense watermolen zijn plekken die Van Gogh in Nuenen schilderde. Op deze plekken zijn informatiezuilen neergezet.

Starting point:

Gerwenseweg
Nuenen
Huis van Pieter Dekkers
48

Ten noordwesten van Nuenen ligt het prachtige Nuenens Broek. Vincent van Gogh wandelde hier regelmatig.

Starting point:

Nuenens Broek
Lissevoort
Nuenen
Nuenens Broek

De Hooidonkse beek is een zijbeek van de Dommel, die door het natuurgebied het Nuenens Broek stroomt.

Starting point:

Hooidonkse beek
Roosdonken
Nuenen
Hooidonkse beek Hooidonkse Beek, Nuenen
49
45

Hool is een buurtschap in de gemeente Nuenen, Gerwen en Nederwetten. De naam Hool zou afgeleid zijn van laagte, of moeras, waar klot werd gewonnen. Een andere verklaring is die van een nauwe doorgang, een brug of dam, over een waterloop.

Starting point:

Lankveld
Nuenen
Buurtschap Hool
89
78
51
52

Vincent van Gogh tekende de Sint-Clemenskerk in Gerwen in december 1883.

Starting point:

Heuvel 23
Gerwen
Sint-Clemenskerk in Gerwen Clemenskerk in Gerwen
53
59
36
04

Story of the route

  • At the little square near the starting point of this walk you will see the very first monument unveiled for Vincent in the Netherlands. It was made by Hildo Krop and was unveiled on Saturday 30 July 1932. Forty years after his death, this monument gave Vincent the recognition of a master painter in Nuenen. The square is also home to the old linden tree and the verger’s house.  
  • There were many weaver's cottages in Nuenen in Vincent van Gogh’s day. Only one of them still exists. It was probably built in 1763 or earlier and is now a national monument. It is a good example of what the small houses of the Nuenen home weavers looked like. Vincent was fascinated by the poor weavers. He drew and painted them at work at their looms. The verger of the Van Gogh church used to live in this house, hence the name ‘Verger’s house’. 
  • In the village centre of Nuenen you will find the Reformed Church, where Vincent's father was a minister. Vincent painted the Reformed Church for his mother. She had broken her leg while getting off the train in Helmond. Vincent thought: "If mother can't go to church, I'll bring church to mother."
  • The route leads you along Hooidonkse Beek, a side stream of the river Dommel, which flows through the Nuenens Broek nature reserve. Most of the stream has been straightened, but here it has been allowed to meander picturesquely. In Nuenen, the stream flows through a city park.
  • The Nuenens Broek nature reserve used to be a swamp area. Today it is being returned to that more natural state. Poplars are being felled in some places, dead wood remains and alders, oaks and wild plant species are being planted or allowed to grow spontaneously. On the south side you'll find a vernal pool, a great habitat for amphibians.
  • Vincent van Gogh painted the house in which the De Groot family lived. They posed for the painting The Potato Eaters. Vincent called these houses “human nests". He spent a whole winter here studying the heads, hands and objects of peasants in preparation for his first masterpiece, The Potato Eaters.
  • The farming way of life continued to fascinate Vincent. He painted farm landscapes, farmers, peasants and home weavers. Pieter Dekkers lived in the house on De Rijt during Vincent's stay in Nuenen. Vincent painted Pieter Dekkers at work at his loom.
  • Windmill De Roosdonck can be seen in the background in various sketches and drawings by Vincent van Gogh. In one of his paintings, for example, you see Pieter Dekkers at his loom and through the window you see windmill De Roosdonck.
  • In the hamlet of Het Hool you can still feel and taste the atmosphere of the vast landscape as it was when Vincent lived in Nuenen. Fields, meadows and 'old' farms define the landscape.
  • The old St. Clemens church in the church village of Gerwen dates from 1620 and was drawn by Vincent van Gogh.
  • In 1884 Vincent rented two rooms from Johannes Schafrath, verger of the Holy Clemens Church in Nuenen. One to paint in and one for his collection of farm tools and bird nests. After his father's death in March 1885, he also stayed there to sleep.
  • 04
  • 36
  • 48
  • 49
  • 45
  • 89
  • 78
  • 51
  • 52
  • 53
  • 59
  • 36
  • 04
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