The landscape painter Barend Cornelis Koekkoek came to "Bad Cleve" in 1834. Here he found charming motifs for his paintings and built himself a residential palace in the style of the Italian Renaissance. Since 1997, the house and adjoining park have been a special museum for Dutch Romantic landscape painting.
The "Belvédère" studio tower, where the artist Barend Cornelis Koekkoek (1803-1862) once created his idyllic compositions, is clearly visible from the garden. The upper floors of the tower, topped by the goddess of art and science, Minerva or Pallas Athene, were the artist's refuge. From here, the master had an impressive view over the Rhine Valley and his adopted home of Kleve. The artist's palace, built in 1848, served as a residence and for representation. In the entrance hall and the Beletage, the "prince of landscape painters", as B.C. Koekkoek liked to be called by his contemporaries, received guests and international clientele. These included representatives of the Dutch and Prussian royal families and the Russian tsarist family.
Today, visitors to the B.C. Koekkoek House like to arrive by bike. This is because the rather flat Lower Rhine is a popular destination for cycle tourists and culture enthusiasts, who can visit one of the region's most important 19th century monuments in Kleve. Walkers use the spacious garden with its many old trees for excursions in the summer months. The layout of the upper circular paths was redesigned in 1979 in the style of an English landscape garden.
The museum's permanent exhibition focuses on art and furnishings from the Romantic period. In addition to several landscape paintings and lithographic works by B.C. Koekkoek, who is regarded as a master of composition and technique, the museum has the largest collection of drawings by him. They were created during numerous journeys through Germany, the Netherlands, Belgium and Luxembourg. In addition, works by contemporaries of the artist and his widely ramified family, spanning four generations, are also on display.
