Van Gogh House Drenthe

The Van Gogh House Drenthe in Nieuw Amsterdam/Veenoord, the only building open to the public in the Netherlands, where one of the world’s most famous painters, Vincent van Gogh, lived and worked.

Visit Vincent van Gogh’s room
In 1883, Vincent van Gogh spent two months living and working at the lodgings owned by Hendrik Scholte. This was his home base from which he could explore the peat moors. He wanted to get to know ‘normal’ people and especially those of the farming community, and to paint them in their landscape. All his impressions were taken back to the lodgings, nowadays the Van Gogh House Drenthe, where his first-floor room is still intact. His bed is still in the same place, the drawing set is open, the palette is ready for use.

Your visit to the Van Gogh House in Drenthe includes a tour. Either using modern audio-visual tools or accompanied by one of our volunteers. You will be literally and figuratively ‘taken by the hand’ to enjoy ‘Vincent’s story’, based on projections, illustrations, text and photos. It’s impossible to describe it all here, as there’s so much to be seen and heard. You simply have to experience it. Immerse yourself and just let it all happen around you.

The tour takes you via the ‘corridor of Vincent’s life’ to ‘the snug’ where Vincent could often be found. It then continues to that unique bedroom on the first floor where Vincent lived. This is very special because of the room having been preserved exactly as it was in 1883, including the floorboards on which the famous artist stood and paced. We present all this via a modern and impressive presentation in which authenticity is combined with state-of-the-art technology to convey Vincent’s experiences as realistically as possible, as told in his letters to Theo.

The impression left behind is: as if Van Gogh has taken a long trek out on the peat moors, returning to his lodgings where he retires to his room to transfer his sketches made along the way onto canvas; it’s as if he could walk back in the door any moment now.

All this portrayed in images, sound and text will transport you to 1883, looking at the South-east Drenthe of those days through the eyes of Vincent van Gogh. The landscape and the people whom Vincent praised so warmly in his letters to his brother Theo.

Experience the tranquillity and spaciousness of beautiful Drenthe, so lyrically described by the famous painter in his letters. In his drawings, paintings and letters, Van Gogh recorded a chapter of Drenthe history, many years before photography made an appearance in this region of the Netherlands.