In 1882 Van Gogh's father became a pastor in Nuenen and the family lived at the vicarage there. After a stay in Drenthe for several months, Van Gogh moved to live with his parents in December 1883 and stayed there until May 1885.[7]
During that time he painted many character studies of peasants and weavers that culminated in The Potato Eaters, and paintings of still life. He also painted his father's church, vicarage and its garden, one such work being Congregation Leaving the Reformed Church in Nuenen (Het uitgaan van de hervormde kerk te Nuenen) depicting the church, which is situated in a park area on the corner of Papenvoort Street and Houtrijk Street in the north of Nuenen.[8] This painting was stolen from the Van Gogh Museum in December 2002 and recovered in Italy in September 2016. There is a street named after it in the town, as well as a cafe, college and bar. A statue of Van Gogh is located in the central park of the town.
Theoretical computer scientist Edsger W. Dijkstra lived in Nuenen later in his life, and died there in 2002.[9] The following year, the ACM (Association for Computing Machinery) PODC Influential Paper Award in distributed computing was renamed the Dijkstra Prize in his honour.
Dutch cyclist Steven Kruijswijk was also born in Nuenen and had lived there in his youth.
The Vicarage at Nuenen, 1885, Van Gogh Museum, Amsterdam (F182)