The exact date of construction of this mill remains unclear, but archaeological finds date pottery shards around 1200-1250, indicating that the mill must have been standing at that time. In 1680 the mill was completely destroyed by fire, but within a year it was operational again. From 1950 onwards, the mill underwent a transformation into an industrial facility, where it served various purposes such as the manufacture of cigar boxes and the pressing of oilseeds.
The water mill was divided, with the left side functioning as a flour mill and the right side as an oil mill. Separate locks allowed both mills to work simultaneously, making it the only watermill in the south of the Netherlands with this capacity.
In 1975, the idea arose to restore the neglected mill, inspired by a painting by Vincent van Gogh. After completion of the reconstruction in 2003, the mill was officially reopened on August 24 of that year.
Vincent van Gogh painted the mill in 1884 during his stay with his parents in Nuenen. The painting has been on display in the Noord Brabants Museum in Den Bosch since 2017. The mill is regularly open on Saturday mornings, where volunteer millers demonstrate the craft and educational tours are provided. The Collse Watermill is one of the few working water-driven oil mills in North Brabant.
In May 1884, Vincent worked on various paintings of windmills, including the Watermill in Collse. He described the mill as “a ditto case like the two other watermills we visited together”, possibly referring to the Opwetten watermill in Nuenen and the Hooijdonk mill in Nederwetten. This painting is striking because of its colorfulness, especially because of the red roof of the watermill.
Discover this windmill during the E-Fatbike tour in the footsteps of Vincent van Gogh’.
