The decisive period in which Vincent VanGogh consciously chooses to be an artist, also took place in Brabant.
He made this choice when he returns home after a disappointing endeavor in the coal mining district in Belgium, the Borinage. In 1879, when 25 years of age, after he had tried to start several career-like opportunities he then returns home. When his parents relocated from Zundert to Etten where his father as protestant preacher took a position, he decided to follow through a year of reflection, after which he definitely decides to become an artist. At that time he is heavily influenced by the drawings and paintings of Jules Breton and Jean-Francois Millet. His social engagement with miners, fieldworkers and peasant-hands kick-started his deeper longing and wish to become an artist.
So the following six towns in the province of Brabant have a connection with the painter Vincent van Gogh: Zundert, Zevenbergen, Tilburg, Helvoirt, Etten-Leur, and Nuenen. In four of these towns, you still finds historic connection with Vincent van Gogh.
In Brabant the year 2015 was placed in Vincent’s character. In 2015 it was exactly 125 years since Vincent van Gogh (1853-1890) had died. This was the opportunity to honor the famous Dutch artist with a quality program: important exhibitions, cycling routes and numerous art events. Still, it is a pleasure to visit Brabant, to step up in his footprints, visit his birthplace and all the other places where he spent his younger years.
Vincent VanGogh was born in Zundert on 30 March 1853 as eldest of five children in a preacher’s family. The house where he was born does not exist anymore, but in a renovated mansion – “Het Vincent van Gogh Huis” – one can get acquainted with the life of the Van Gogh family in Zundert through multimedia presentations. The presentation is set up in such a way that it is like meeting and speaking to Vincent himself. The second part of the presentation exhibits connections with contemporary artists that are influenced and/or inspired by Vincent van Gogh.
Etten-Leur has a display in a small, old sexton’s house describing his stay in Etten-Leur and illustrating the start of Vincent’s career as an artist.
In Tilburg, where Vincent attended grammar school, the classroom where he had drawing lessons has been restored to its original state. Contemporary artists are involved in the drawing education program for youngsters in Tilburg, and by doing so create more attention to VanGogh and Tilburg.
In Nuenen you can find the ‘Van Gogh Documentation Centre’, established in 1976, where photos, reproductions and archives give an impression of Vincent’s period in Nuenen. In July 2010 the “Vincentre”, the new Van Gogh Centre located on the ‘Berg’ in Nuenen, opened its doors to the public. In the Vincentre you can discover how Vincent van Gogh lived and painted while in Nuenen. Vincent lived and worked in Nuenen for two years, producing 196 paintings and 263 drawings.
Bed and Breakfast Tilburg Gust van Dijk would like to focus attention on the connection of the region with the younger years of Vincent van Gogh. Therefore Bed and Breakfast Tilburg Gust van Dijk can offer you an exclusive arrangement to discover Vincent van Gogh in Brabant. The arrangement is limited to four persons.
During the arrangement, you will be guided by the artist duo that is the driving force behind a number of much talked-about initiatives and the B&B, will guide you in a Gust van Dijk Art-tour. Coming from Brabant themselves, the two guides will take you to the best and most interesting spots and place you into the footprints of Vicent van Gogh himself.
Are you interested in going on an ‘Art Safari’ with us to discover the places where Vincent stayed, his birthplace Zundert and Nuenen where he painted his first masterpiece “The Potato Eaters”?
For further inquiries please contact us through e-mail with your request.
To make your choice easy: We speak: besides Dutch, German, English and French.
This is the view of the Collse Watermolen, how you still can see it on it’s original location (above). Direct below you see a detail of the painting Vincent van Gogh painted it in 1884. The original painting is now in teh collection of the Noord Brabant museum in ‘s-Hertogenbosch and on show in the museum.