Van Gogh Cycle Route, Etten-Leur North

This Van Gogh Cycle Route, covering 32 kilometres, starts in the centre of Etten-Leur close to five Van Gogh Monuments: the Van Gogh Church, the site of the former Dutch Reformed parsonage, the former verger’s house, the Old Town Hall and the Lambertus Church. The Van Gogh Church is definitely worth visiting. There are informative audio columns in the courtyard garden (by the statue) and on the Marktplein (by the Moeierboom – linden tree).

One thing that makes this route so special is that from the small street Achter de Vaart you pass hundreds of pollard willows. Vincent van Gogh was enamoured by these characteristic trees. He drew them many times andpainted them as well, later when in France, often drawing on his memories of Brabant. Pollard willows held a deeper meaning for Van Gogh, gaining an almost human dimension.

Roughly halfway along the route (intersection 41) you can make a slight detour taking you towards Zevenbergen. There is an audio column by Vincent’s former boarding school (Stationsstraat 16). The route takes you along sand and clay paths, through forests and polders, past old farmhouses and hard-working farmers. You’ll be seeing what Vincent saw.

Where Van Gogh found his artistic calling
This route starts at the Van Gogh Church in Etten-Leur, which houses a permanent exhibition. Several themes take you through Vincent’s story in Etten, including why he came here, what he searched for and what he found. Find out all about his struggles with drawing, his love for the landscape, for simple people and for his cousin Kee Vos, as well as his heartbreak and blazing row with his father. It is an unmissable, compelling and colourful story. You will find a Van Gogh audio column next to the statue of Vincent in the courtyard garden behind the Van Gogh Church.

The bronze statue of Vincent van Gogh in the courtyard garden, near the old council offices, is a piece by Hein Vree. The statue dates from 1990, the year marking the 100th anniversary of Van Gogh’s death. The statue is roughly on the same spot where the Reformed parsonage stood until the early 20th century, a place where Vincent stayed temporarily. There is an audio column by the statue, where Vincent takes you along on one of his walks through the Etten-Leur of that time.

The Old Town Hall, the former council offices, is now a Van Gogh Monument. Van Gogh registered here as an artist for the first time in 1881. The building dates from 1776.

The Van Gogh Monument the Saint Lambertus Church is a neo-Gothic cross basilica from 1877. The church is depicted on several of Vincent van Gogh’s drawings.

Museum Sint Paulushofje is also on the Markt, with the Heemkundig Streekmuseum Jan Uten Houte. This local history museum includes an authentic farmhouse room.
At intersection 50, you will find the Bisschopsmolen, a water mill in Etten, built in 1744. The windmill functioned as a grain mill until 1959. During his Brabant period, Vincent made numerous drawings and paintings of mills and water mills. It is likely that he drew De Weltevreden windmill on Roosendaalseweg, Etten-Leur, in the spring of 1881 (it was demolished in 1974).

During this cycle route, you pass the Liesbos, the largest English oak forest in the Netherlands. Vincent frequently drew in the Liesbos just past Breda; he is believed to have made the drawing ‘Edge of a Forest’ there. When his artist friend Anthon van Rappard visited him in June 1881, Vincent also made several drawings in the Liesbos, but these are now lost. There is an audio column at the entrance of Camping Liesbos that tells the story of Vincent in the Liesbos and the Princenhage neighbourhood.

Cycle further and you pass ‘t Lamgat marina in Hoeven. It is unlikely that Vincent was ever in this area, but he did have a penchant for places such as this. Vincent van Gogh enjoyed painting scenes that played out on the water. He made numerous drawings of fishing boats, harbours and bridges. While you are here, you can get something to eat and drink at Watersportcentrum ’t Lamgat.

You then cycle through the lane, Achter de Vaart, and encounter around 250 pollard willows. There were over 1,000 in Vincent’s time. In 1881, the 28-year-old Vincent often went out and about in Etten to draw. On many of his walks, he passed the characteristic pollard willows, which he was particularly fond of. His sketches, drawings and later paintings bear witness to that. To him, pollard willows symbolised the way people were also marked by life. These trees are a wonderful example of how an originally Brabant theme returns in his later work in France.

Once you reach the end of this Van Gogh Cycle Route, be sure to take some time to explore the city itself! You can go shopping in Winkelhart Etten-Leur, for example. This shopping centre is open six days a week. Enjoy a well-deserved lunch or dinner in one of Etten-Leur’s many lovely cafés and restaurants.

How does the Van Gogh cycle route work?
The Van Gogh cycle route forms part of the cycle route network in Brabant. There is a Van Gogh cycle route sign at every intersection. Follow the Van Gogh cycle route signs from one numbered intersection to the other. Follow the cycle route network signs between the intersections. Ten short routes in the form of loops have been marked out. The routes are joined together by linking sections.