Follow in the footsteps of
Vincent van Gogh
Walk through the stunning countryside where master painter Vincent van Gogh grew up and got his inspiration. It is a countryside filled with meandering streams, expansive nature areas, farming land, estates and natural greenery that goes into the heart of towns and villages.
Van Gogh grew up in this area, started his artistic career here and was inspired by the countryside and the Brabant people who worked the land. The Van Gogh NP Walking Routes allow you to experience the places that played a special role in his life. It is as if you are walking in a painting. You can’t get closer to Van Gogh than this!
The Van Gogh NP Walking Routes are set out across the system of walking trail junctions. You can recognise the routes by the signs with the inscription ‘Van Gogh Nationaal Park’, which you will find on every junction point pole. Follow the Van Gogh NP walking route from one numbered intersection to the next. In between the intersections, you follow the walking junction system signs.
Van Gogh NP walking route Zundert
- 8 kilometres
This varied walking route takes you through Zundert, the village where Vincent was born. You walk past places from his childhood. They are surprising, intimate places where the artist walked as a child with his parents, brothers and sisters. Spots where he played with all kinds of insects and made drawings of them. Places where he fantasised and dreamt about later about what he would become. But you also go to places which were vast rye fields in his day but that have now blossomed into a new park-like landscape.
Van Gogh NP walking route Tilburg
- 16 kilometres
In Tilburg, the then 13-year-old Van Gogh received his first drawing lesson from drawing master Huijsmans at the Hogere Burger School Koning Willem II in 1866. The city had around 18,500 residents. The Tilburg-Breda railway line and the station were then only three years old, and the most popular professions were weaver and factory worker. In the direct vicinity of Tilburg, just like in the past, there is the streamscape of the Leij and the Voorste Stroom, with its small fields and characteristic pollard willow. Walk out of the city into the green countryside and discover the lovely Piushaven, De Nieuwe Herdgang watch tower and Landschapspark Moerenburg-Koningshoeven.
Van Gogh NP walking route Etten-Leur
- 14 kilometres
Discover the natural scenery that inspired Van Gogh when he started his artistic career in Etten-Leur in 1881. Vincent van Gogh would walk for hours here. He was particularly charmed by the heathlands. The countryside, the farming life and the simple people intrigued him. The walk can easily be combined with the five Van Gogh Monuments in Etten-Leur, including the Van Gogh Church, the Verger’s house, the place he lived and where he had his very first studio, and the Oude Raadhuis (Old Town Hall), where he registered as a painter for the first time. Notable detail: 98% of this walk is on unpaved roads.
Van Gogh NP walking route Nuenen
- 10 kilometres
Vincent van Gogh lived and worked in Nuenen from December 1883 to November 1885. It was not exceptionally long and yet he made almost a quarter of his entire oeuvre here and his first masterwork ‘The Potato Eaters’. Nuenen and its surrounding area can be considered as a genuine outdoor museum. Nowhere else will you find so many buildings, sculptures and landscapes that are directly related to Van Gogh. From the centre of Nuenen, you can walk to the Nuenens Broek Nature Reserve, which has been restored to a more natural state. It is a splendid example of Brabants Landschap’s commitment to preserve Vincent van Gogh’s countryside.