Vincent Van Gogh Trip (postponed)

Overview

This trip is not confirmed due to travel restrictions to/from this part of The Netherlands. We will inform our community as soon as we are sure the trip takes place.

Vincent Van Gogh is one of the most admired artists. But how much do you really know about his life? During this day trip from Brussels we travel to two historic destinations in the Dutch Province of North Brabant. We visit the place where he was born and grew up, Zundert. An official guide takes us through the Van Gogh House, the backyard, his father’s church and the graveyard (with the grave of his 1-year older brother Vincent…) and some other places that were important in his early life.

After a delicious buffet lunch we travel to a the small town of Nuenen, where Van Gogh lived for several years and painted about 25% of his entire oeuvre, including the famous painting “The Potato Eaters”. This is the place where he became a Master Painter. We spend time in the Vincentre museum, where we learn more about his life and his painting technique, while a guide walks with us around the village and shows where he painted, such as the little reformed “Van Gogh” church. Although we will not see original works of Van Gogh, from previous trips we can assure you that by visiting these historic places you will truly explore the life of Vincent Van Gogh that you cannot experience in for instance the Van Gogh Museum in Amsterdam. On our return we’ll watch the amazing painted movie Loving Vincent. Just stunning!

“The visit in Nuenen was excellent, the guides very professional and very fond of their jobs. And also the visit in the museum.
The film, just amazing, great, fantastic, highly recommended.“

Van-Gogh-EC

Program

As with any Expat Club trip our schedule is carefully designed so we can optimally see the different places we visit. Still, unforeseen circumstances such as traffic jams and road closures may influence our program. This rarely happens, but rest assured your host, the bus driver and the welcoming destinations in The Netherlands will do their best to give you the best possible experience.

08h30 – Departure Brussels, Place Schuman
10h00 – Arrival in Zundert
10h00 – Guided tour in Zundert
11h00 – Visit to Van Gogh House
12h15 – Departure to Tilburg
13h00 – Lunch at Van der Valk Hotel
14h15 – Departure to Nuenen
14h45 – Arrival Nuenen & Visit to Vincentre
15h45 – Guided tour in Nuenen
18h15 – Departure to Brussels
17h30 – Lets have a drink
20h00 – Arrival Brussels

Zundert

Just across the Belgium-Netherlands border lies Zundert, Van Gogh’s birthplace (30 March 1853). Here we’ll visit the Van Gogh House. This is not a museum in the classical sense of the word, but it provides for active experiences and a stimulating presentation on the life and work of Vincent van Gogh. The permanent presentation “Vincent van Gogh – The roots of a master” stands alone, and focuses on the youth of the artist, but is also a prelude to the temporary exhibitions. The focus of those exhibitions is put on artists from the 20^th and 21^st century who have been and still are inspired by Vincent van Gogh. (source: het Van Gogh Huis)

Lunch

For several of our trips to Holland (Blossom Tour, Kröller-Müller museum, Giethoorn) we have lunch in Holland’s most famous hotel chain Van der Valk. They are known for their restaurants and big buffets. Our guests truly loved this huuuuuuge buffet with so many different choices and various drinks (smoothies, juices, milk, hot chocolate, tea, coffee). Also for this trip we arranged a superb lunch buffet between the two places we visit, so we are nicely prepared for the afternoon. Btw, our lunches are a great way to get to know the other people in our group and today it is already included! Always a nice atmosphere while enjoying the following options:

– Soup of the day
– Sandwiches
– Bread with cheeses, cold-cuts, jams etc
– Salades
– Warm dishes freshly prepared (meats, fish, shrimp etc)
– Fruit juices & smoothies
– Coffee & tea

Nuenen

After lunch we continue towards the city of Eindhoven. Just East of this major city lies the village of Nuenen, where Vincent Van Gogh lived between 1883 and 1885. This is where he became a Master Painter. We learn all about his adult life in this area of the Netherlands in the Vincentre.

The permanent exhibition uses audiovisual technology to tell the story of two characters: Vincent van Gogh and Nuenen. Both characters are unravelled and a love-hate relationship evolves. During your visit you will become increasingly involved in this story.

We end our visit to Nuenen with a 60 minutes guided tour through the village and see a few of the actual places that Van Gogh eternalised on canvas, including the “little Van Gogh church”. This is maybe the best way to make his art come alive.

Loving Vincent

Loving Vincent is the first painted animation film in the world. Every frame of the 94 minutes film was painted by hand. Over 65,000 pictures were painted, 12 canvasses per second. More than 125 artists bring in Loving Vincent the artist to life with their brushstrokes. It took the directors Hugh Welchman and Dorota Kobiela from Breakthru Productions a total of four years to make the film.

“A year after the death of the artist, Vincent van Gogh, Postman Roulin gets his slacker son, Armand, to hand deliver the artist’s final letter written to his now late brother, Theo, to some worthy recipient after multiple failed postal delivery attempts. Although disdainful of this seemingly pointless chore, Armand travels to Auvers-sur-Oise where a purported close companion to Vincent, Dr. Gachet, lives. Having to wait until the doctor returns from business, Armand meets many of the people of that village who not only knew Vincent, but were apparently also models and inspirations for his art. In doing so, Armand becomes increasingly fascinated in the psyche and fate of Van Gogh as numerous suspicious details fail to add up. However, as Armand digs further, he comes to realize that Vincent’s troubled life is as much a matter of interpretation as his paintings and there are no easy answers for a man whose work and tragedy would only be truly appreciated in the future.” Written by Kenneth Chisholm (kchishol@rogers.com) – From IMDB

Bus

We will travel with a modern 4* luxury coach with reclinable comfort seats and a lot of leg space. The bus has an onboard toilet, bar, and air-conditioning, as well as a DVD-system with at least 3 flat-screens.