Around The Netherlands: Nuenen

Written by Bruna Ugá. 

Heilige Clemenskerk. Sep. 2022.

    Every time I go to Nuenen I get the same cozy and calming feeling. It is a great place if you're looking for a typical Dutch town without the "chaos" of bigger cities. And of course it's a great place if you enjoy the famous painter Vincent Van Gogh since every ten steps you take there's some reference to him in the city center. 

    From the Eindhoven Centraal you can take the buses 6, 321 or 323 with a short ride of around 15-20 minutes, then about 5 more minutes of walking until the " Park ". I think that's the most central place where you can find the " Heilige Clemenskerk ", a pretty church with Romanesque and Gothic architecture which is not so old by European's standards since it was built in 1871. Unfortunately I didn't get the chance to go inside the building, so that's for another time.

"From Aardappeleters" sculpute. Sep. 2022.

    Also at the Park there are two of the most famous touristic attractions in Nuenen : the sculpture " Aardappeleters " which is a homage to the painting " De Aardappeleters/The Potato Eaters " painted by Van Gogh in 1885 and a sculpture of the painter himself. They are located on opposite sides of the park which is a truly adorable place with a little lake crossed by a little bridge, big trees and a pretty bandstand. The buildings around are also beautiful showcasing the Dutch architecture, some of them are nice restaurants and cafes. 

The bandstand at the Park. Sep. 2022.

    I've been to the one called "Comigo" twice, once during the afternoon when I could taste a really good dessert with some coffee and the second time during the evening for a great dinner. Oh, did I mention it is a BRAZILIAN themed restaurant? And I happen to be Brazilian myself so I was delighted to taste some of my home country cuisine after more than a year away. I actually had never been to a Brazilian restaurant in the Netherlands before, so I'll tell you more about this experience in another post.

The "Park". Sep. 2022.

    Before that let's go back to our favorite red haired Dutchman. This time I didn't go into the "Van Gogh Village Nuenen" museum which I visited in September 2022 - it was called "Vincentre" then. I know it has been under some renovations so I intend on going back there to see what were the changes. Anyway, I would like to talk about a little about my previous experience: I really enjoyed the museum because it was an immersion into Van Gogh's life with lots of information about his family, close friends and acquaintances specially those he met in the town of Nuenen. He only lived there for 2 years of his life but it was enough to leave a great impression since many of his early works were drawings and paintings of landscapes, buildings and people he saw around the village. 

    As I have mentioned before his famous painting "De Aardappeleters" was created in Nuenen and it represents the common folk life, which by the way has been my favorite one since I saw it "in real life" in Amsterdam. I have shocked a few people with this statement since this work was one of the earliest in his career and he managed to perfect his technique in later works. But what I really enjoy about it is how he was able to show so much depth and feelings about those people by replicating a simple meal scene: the dark colors, heavy brushstrokes and sharp features tell me the hardships of their lives but at the same time there's some warmth to it. I'm no art specialist so that's how far I can get with my commentary, hahaha. 

Skecthes by Van Gogh at the museum. Sep. 2022.

Vincentre. Sep. 2022.

    

    It's important to note that you won't find any of his paintings in this museum, so if that's what you're looking for better head to Amsterdam's "Van Gogh Museum" where many of them are located. Either way I think if you only get one chance to visit Nuenen you should check it out because it's a fun learning experience. But if you decided not to go there, you may have a nice "dive into Van Gogh's life" experience by simply walking around town: in front of the museum there's a big house where he lived with his parents for some time - it didn't last long since there happened many quarrels between the painter and his father, a religious preacher who disapproved of his son's way of life. You may also find a preserved weaver's house built in the 18th century which represents the houses from the same style painted by Van Gogh. This house is located close to a big tree - I mean, not "a" but "THE" big tree because that is one of the oldest and thickest trees in the Netherlands. 

House where Van Gogh lived with his parents. Feb. 2024.

Weaver's House. May 2023.

    

  

    If you walk a little bit further you may find the " Van Goghkerkje ", or Van Gogh's little church , which was inspiration for the artist's many sketches and paintings since his father worked there. I actually didn't know this church was still there until the writing of this article, so I really must go back to discover this and more curiosities this lovely town has to offer. See you next time, Nuenen !

    I almost forgot to mention that I have made a Youtube video in 2022 showing a few places around the town, like the sculptures at the Park and museum itself. You can watch it here - the language is Portuguese but you can turn on the closed captions.