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An experience with significance

Van Gogh Homeland

150 years ago, Vincent van Gogh, the most famous Brabander in the world, was already trying to make sense of the changes in his homeland. He struggled with the rise of industry, poverty, and the pressure on nature. Through his paintings, drawings, and letters, he shared his love for nature and humanity: a tribute to his Brabant.

Van Gogh Homeland looks at Brabant through Van Gogh’s eyes: the Brabant of the past, present, and future. Can we find a balance between paradise and progress?

One thing is certain: if we want to keep Van Gogh’s homeland livable, we need to roll up our sleeves. With determination and optimism, Van Gogh Homeland strives for a Brabant where people, animals, and nature thrive together.

Van Gogh Homeland offers fresh perspectives on sustainable development. We create an engaging program for a wide audience, sparking conversations about challenges and solutions, and showing that things can be done differently!

An experience with significance

We organize impressive outdoor exhibitions where artists, architects, creative thinkers, entrepreneurs and students take the public on a journey of discovery, exploring innovative and creative solutions. These open-air exhibitions highlight major changes, dilemmas and decisions that affect us all. At different moments and locations, visitors embark on expeditions through temporary installations, trails, theater, and art—interactive spaces centered around greenery, water and livability.

Discovery and experience take center stage: climbing, immersing, feeling, tasting, participating, and engaging all the senses.

We inspire, confront, and persuade. From theater and art installations to iconic hotspots, we use imagination to bring our homeland to life. The first outdoor exhibition will take place in the spring of 2026 in Tilburg, under the supervision of none other than world-renowned Brabant-born architect Winy Maas (MVRDV).

Leisure for a Better Society

Van Gogh Homeland stimulates the senses, sharpens the mind, inspires, and captivates, not just by telling stories but by allowing people to experience them.

Through a large-scale, multidisciplinary program, we use Vincent’s unique perspective on his homeland and the imaginative power of the leisure sector. This allows us to engage a broad audience in an accessible and attractive way with the major challenges of our time.

The leisure sector of Brabant serves as both the stage and the host for Van Gogh Homeland. Here, you don’t just watch or listen to stories about sustainability—you experience them firsthand. You become part of it; you play the leading role. The story of transition becomes your story, the environment where it unfolds is your environment—your homeland.

“Great things are not done by impulse, but by a series of small things brought together,” wrote Vincent van Gogh. His words perfectly capture our ambitious program, where 150 years later, we take steps together toward a livable future.

By uniting countless small efforts through Van Gogh Homeland, we make great things happen.

The Green Cathedral

In the spring of 2026, Van Gogh Homeland presents the Green Cathedral in Tilburg’s Spoorzone. In May and June, an iconic structure will rise: a green replica of the Heuvelse Kerk. This will be the stage for an inspiring program for a wide audience, shining a light on dilemmas and solutions for the challenges we all face.

The Green Cathedral is an idea by architect Winy Maas (MVRDV), who is also the curator of the entire program. The city of Tilburg will be the host of the first edition of Van Gogh Homeland—an experience with meaning!

A Green Oasis

This striking landmark, a multi-story scaffolding structure, will be designed as a lush green oasis filled with trees, shrubs, and plants. Here, visitors will experience sustainability themes in exciting and immersive ways, with a focus on greener cities.

This architectural wonder invites you in, it’s a magnet that demands to be seen, explored, and climbed. A ‘green sky walk’ will take you past pop-up exhibitions and art installations, guiding you on an interactive journey of dilemmas and unexpected solutions. The towering heights of the structure will offer literal and figurative new perspectives.

The open space at the base, the nave, the choir, the vestibule, will host a diverse range of programs, from theater, music, and dance to sports and discussions.

Groundview van de Groene Kathdraal
Roofwalk van de Groene Kathedraal

A Unique Experiment

The Green Cathedral is a metaphor for belief in a green and livable city. This living lab is a unique experiment to explore how the leisure sector can contribute to awareness and support for regional transitions.

When the pop-up experience concludes, the greenery from the Cathedral will move into the city, spreading through Tilburg’s gardens, squares, and parks. In this way, Van Gogh Homeland makes a tangible contribution to greening the city and fostering dialogue about Brabant’s future.

This ‘sacred’ hotspot offers a stage for green dreams—those of residents, visitors, artists, students, and partners like Efteling and Libéma. A gateway to the city’s ambition for a vibrant, green, and sustainable future. With a view of the Heuvelse Kerk, the Green Cathedral is a first step toward the planned green corridor connecting Tilburg’s city center to the Spoorzone.

Tilburg is HOT

In the second half of the 19th century, Tilburg flourished as a leading textile city. It was during this time that Vincent van Gogh honed his drawing skills at the local HBS school, in the former palace of King Willem II.

Today, as a city with an industrial past, Tilburg faces urban heat stress during the summer. In short: Tilburg is hot.

The city is now working hard to ensure a healthy and livable future by increasing greenery and water presence. That’s why the Municipality of Tilburg, the Province of North Brabant, Midpoint Brabant, and partners such as Efteling and Libéma are joining forces for the very first edition of Van Gogh Homeland in the spring of 2026.

Stay tuned for more!