Kröller Müller Museum

The Kröller-Müller Museum lies in the middle of the Hoge Veluwe National Park, near Otterlo in Gelderland, and it is one of the finest art museums in the Netherlands. It owes its existence to Helene Kröller-Müller, a wealthy art collector who began buying in the early twentieth century and built up an extraordinary collection of modern art, and to her husband Anton Kröller, whose business paid for it. The couple gave the collection and the land to the state, and the museum opened in 1938. Its setting among woods and heath makes it unlike any urban gallery.

The museum is best known for its holdings of Vincent van Gogh. With around ninety paintings and many drawings, it has the second-largest collection of his work in the world after the Van Gogh Museum in Amsterdam, and the pictures cover the whole of his career, from his dark early Dutch scenes to the colourful works of his years in France. Famous paintings include the Cafe Terrace at Night and the Sower, and the display gives a rich impression of the artist's development. Helene Kröller-Müller was one of the first collectors to recognise his importance.

The rest of the collection is also strong. There are works by Seurat, Monet, Picasso, Mondrian, Braque and Gris, and a large number of pictures by Mondrian that trace his path from landscapes to abstraction. The museum emphasises modern movements such as Cubism, De Stijl and Futurism, and it regularly puts on contemporary exhibitions. The building itself was designed by the Belgian architect Henry van de Velde and is calm, light and well proportioned.

The sculpture garden is another highlight. It is one of the largest in Europe, covering many hectares of woodland and lawn, and it displays works by Rodin, Barbara Hepworth, Henry Moore and Jean Dubuffet, among others. Walking among the sculptures in the open air, with the trees as a backdrop, is a pleasant way to see them, and the pieces change character with the seasons.

The park has a free fleet of white bicycles for visitors, so cycling to the museum is easy. Nearby are the hunting lodge Jachthuis Sint Hubertus, designed by the architect H. P. Berlage for the Kröllers, and the Celtic Fields, remains of prehistoric farming. Allow half a day, check opening hours and book a time slot in advance, as entry to the park is also required. The sculpture garden also holds pavilions by Gerrit Rietveld and Aldo van Eyck and a floating sculpture on a pond by Marta Pan, and the museum's 1970s extension is by the architect Wim Quist.