archive
The riches of Arte Povera. Italian avant-garde from the 1970s
December 15th, 2012 - April 7th, 2013
Arte Povera, literally translated ‘poor art’, is the name given to a group of around 15 Italian artists and their work in the late 1960s. The word povera stands for these artists’ intention to rid themselves, their visual material and the observer of unnecessary baggage in images and text.The work of eight of these artists is on display in the exhibition: Giovanni Anselmo, Luciano Fabro, Jannis Kounellis, Mario Merz, Giulio Paolini, Giuseppe Penone, Michelangelo Pistoletto and Gilberto Zorio.
Photo banner: Michelangelo Pistoletto, Venus of the rags,1967-1982
Download: tekst_arte_povera_Nl_EN.pdf
Vincent is back part I: Native soil
November 24th, 2012 - April 1st, 2013
Due to changing presentations of the collection, fewer Van Gogh paintings than usual have been on display recently. But with Vincent is back, these are once again restored to their familiar prominent positions in the heart of the museum. The presentation has been renewed. Vincent is back consists of two parts: Native soil and Land of light.Native soil focuses on Van Gogh’s Dutch period (1881-1886), in which he painted peasant life as a novice artist. In this first presentation, which is on display from 24 November 2012 until 1 April 2013, the emphasis is on Van Gogh’s Native soil, with the darker, earthy paintings and the drawings he made during his early days as an artist. Due to their sensitivity to light, these drawings are only rarely exhibited.
A second presentation will follow from 7 April to 22 September 2013, with the accent on the Land of light. Land of light (1886-1890) shows how Van Gogh further developed his personal style during his French period, with expressive brushstrokes and an abundance of colour.
Van Gogh’s work occupies a special place in the collection of Anton and Helene Kröller-Müller, the founders of the Kröller-Müller Museum. Thanks to them, the museum has the second largest collection of work by Van Gogh in the world. Between 1908 and 1929, they acquired no fewer than 91 paintings and 180 works on paper by the artist; their budget was virtually unlimited. Vincent van Gogh was only celebrated among small circles at the start of the 20th century. The amount of attention he received from the Kröller-Müllers has contributed greatly to the recognition that his work currently enjoys.
Text and exhibition compilation: Annemiek Rens, RKD (Rijksbureau voor Kunsthistorische Documentatie/Netherlands Institute for Art History). The carpet has been sponsored by Forbo Flooring.
Download: KMM_VincentisBack_handout.pdf
Art Cars at the Kröller-Müller Museum
October 13th, 2012 - October 28th, 2012
From 13 to 28 October, the Kröller-Müller Museum in collaboration with Alphabet Autolease presents a special collection of Art Cars in the museum building and sculpture garden. The presentation includes four highly exclusive objects from the BMW Art Cars collection, by the world-renowned artists Jeff Koons, Jenny Holzer, David Hockney and Roy Lichtenstein. Dutch artists, such as Joost Conijn, Olaf Mooij and Jean-Paul Marsman are also represented in the Art Cars presentation.Colouring picture and MINI activity
Specially for children, there is a painting activity MINI Art Car for mini-artists. Click here for more information. And an original colouring picture can be downloaded from www.artcars.nl, there a nice prizes to win.
Photo banner: the Art Car 2012, especially designed for Alphabet by artist Jean-Paul Marsman
Download: KMM_12_art_cars_boekje_DEF_LR.pdf
Animals in Dutch sculptural art - Joseph Mendes da Costa, Lambertus Zijl, Johan Altorf and John Rädecker
September 22nd, 2012 - March 3rd, 2013
This presentation comprises animal sculptures by Joseph Mendes da Costa, Lambertus Zijl, Johan Altorf and John Rädecker. Helene Kröller-Müller regularly acquired work from these artists and commissioned both Altorf and Rädecker to make sculptures for her estate. These are still standing in their original positions in The Hoge Veluwe National Park, such as Rädecker’s Hinde (Doe), for instance. Some of the animal sculptures presented in the museum come from the Sint Hubertus Hunting Lodge.
William Degouve de Nuncques, painter of mystery
May 27th, 2012 - September 2nd, 2012
William Degouve de Nuncques (1867-1935) was among the group of Belgian symbolists that were active in Brussels and its environs around 1900. As a painter and poet he contributed to the artistic climate, in which artists operated on the interface between visual art and literature.
Partly through the agency of art tsar H.P. Bremmer, advisor to collectors, including Helene Kröller-Müller, William Degouve de Nuncques was also popular among art lovers in the Netherlands during his lifetime. On Bremmer’s advice, Mrs Kröller chose to ‘acquire a continuous series of artistic development from Degouve’.
Ever since its initial period, work by William Degouve de Nuncques has always been on display in the museum. Now, William Degouve de Nuncques, painter of mystery, offers a broader picture of the oeuvre of this fascinating artist, placed in the context in which he lived and worked.
The exhibition and publication of the same name were realized in close collaboration with Musée Félicien Rops in Namen (Belgium), l’Université Libre de Bruxelles and the Kröller-Müller Museum. The exhibition was shown earlier this year in the previously mentioned Musée Félicien Rops, under the title William Degouve de Nuncques, maître du mystère.
The publication is available in the museumshop and webshop (€ 29,90, French and Dutch edition, ISBN 978-906153 842-4).
Download: kmm_12_zaaltekst_degouveENG_web.pdf
Longing for perfection - 21 years of collecting by the Kröller-Müller Museum
April 1st, 2012 - October 28th, 2012
In his final exhibition Longing for perfection – 21 years of collecting by the Kröller-Müller Museum, Evert van Straaten presents a review of the works of art acquired by the museum under his directorship, together with masterpieces from the permanent collection. Acquisitions since 1991 are presented in all the exhibition spaces and the sculpture garden.
The exhibition focuses on works of art that not only express the longing for a perfect form, for a better world or for paradise, but also in which the attainability thereof and the tragedy of the human condition constitute the theme of the work.
Many of the pieces have hitherto rarely been shown or are even on display for the first time, such as the recently acquired spectacular installation Inopportune: Stage two by Cai Guo-Qiang. In addition to seeing well-known and well loved pieces again, including Le Commencement du monde by Constantin Brancusi, the Little owl by Pablo Picasso or The Paintings (with Us in the Nature) by Gilbert & George, exceptional works by Armando, Jo Baer, Louise Bourgeois, Daan van Golden, Anselm Kiefer, Matt Mullican, Bruce Nauman, herman de vries, Franz West, Rémy Zaugg, and many other artists will be on display.
The digital exhibition concept Expose is a component of this exhibition. Between 1 February and 1 March, 767 museum visitors chose their favourite Top 3 of small sculptures. The 50 works of art which received the most votes are included in the exhibition, accompanied by a selection of all the personal stories and quotes. www.kmmexpose.nl
A richly illustrated publication will accompany the exhibition, available in the museumshop and webshop (Dutch edition only, ISBN 9789073313279 € 34,50).
Here you can download a booklet about the exhibition
Here you can download a booklet about Expose III
Constantin Brancusi, Le Commencement du monde, 1924, c/o Pictoright Amsterdam 2011
Exhibition MartinVisser at the Bonnefantenmuseum
March 13th, 2012 - September 9th, 2012
The Bonnefantenmuseum, in close cooperation with the Kröller-Müller Museum, is presenting a special exhibition entitled: Martin Visser: collector, designer, free spirit. The exhibition will in Maastricht, from 13 March until 9 September 2012.Martin Visser: collector, designer, free spirit sketches a portrait of a fascinating figure, who maintained intense engagement throughout his life with pioneers from the world of art and culture. In the exhibition, works from his collection, Visser's own furniture designs, and photos and models of the architecture of his home reflect Martin Visser's engagement with forty years of the avant-garde in art and culture.
There are over 400 works under the name of 'Former Visser collection' in the Kröller-Müller Museum collection. It is the museum's largest loan operation ever, with more than a hundred art works travelling to Maastricht. A selection of works from the private Visser collection is also on display, as well as eight pieces of furniture from various private collections in the Netherlands.
In the same period, the Kröller-Müller Museum will also be presenting works from the 'Former Visser collection' in the exhibition Longing for perfection (1 April -28 October 2012). It will include works by Jenny Holzer, Anselm Kiefer, Dan Flavin and A.R. Penck.
The exhibition is accompanied by a catalogue containing contributions from Evert van Straaten, Paula van den Bosch, Liz Kreijn, Carel Blotkamp, Paula Feldman Sankoff, Guus Vreeburg, Marijke Kuper, Francis Strauven, Kris Dittel and Johannes Schwartz.
More information
Windflower, Perceptions of Nature
October 9th, 2011 - January 15th, 2012
Windflower, Perceptions of Nature is a major international exhibition in which the Kröller-Müller Museum highlights nature in a specific way: nature as a vulnerable factor in the worldwide pursuit of progress. In a carefully composed exhibition the museum presents different, contrasting perceptions of nature, depicted by contemporary artists whose roots lie in Western and non-Western cultures. The following 12 artists are represented in the exhibition: Lothar Baumgarten, Cai Guo-Qiang, Mark Dion, Peter Doig, Mario García Torres, Kimsooja, Tetsumi Kudo, Charly Nijensohn, Yoko Ono, Marco Pando Quevedo, Willem de Rooij and Liang Shaoji.These artists consider the world critically and are sympathetic towards the growing global awareness regarding the future of nature. Questions concerning technology, economic interests, environment and energy are examined. As is the meditative and cosmological experience of nature, the role of (neo) colonialism, the constructible and artificial landscape and the romantic longing of humankind in contrast to the imposing, mysterious and often threatening nature. The theme of this exhibition belongs undeniably in the Kröller-Müller Museum, in the sense that it touches on the current global concern about the handling of nature’s continued existence from the perspective of visual art, without thereby following the path of activism.
The exhibition is accompanied by an English-language publication entitled Windflower, Perceptions of Nature.The publication is available at the museumshop and webshop.The exhibition and the publication have been made possible in part with the support of SNS REAAL Fund and the Mondriaan Foundation.
Please click here for information about the activity programme
Download: kmm_11_zaaltekst_windflower_ENG_web.pdf
Sweet Summer Guests: Willum Geerts and TAMTAM
July 6th, 2011 - August 31st, 2011
In July and August the Kröller-Müller Museum will proudly present its sixth Sweet Summer, including two Sweet Summer Nights (July 16th & 30th) and a new edition of the successful Sweet Children’s Afternoon (August 13th). In addition, the museum will welcome two Sweet Summer Guests in July: Willum Geerts and visual theatre company TAMTAM.Video and sound artist Willum Geerts is the museum’s Sweet Summer Guest in the sculpture garden. A temporary work by him will be on display from July 15th until August 31st. Willem Geerts will liven up a historic walking path in the garden by adding light and sound effects, among other things. During the Sweet Summer Nights and the Sweet Children's Afternoon the work will lie at the heart of a wondrous performance full of unexpected encounters and viewing experiences."
From July 6th until July 31st, as artist-in-residence, the unique theatre group TAMTAM will present short performances inspired by the museum’s collection and the sculpture garden.
TAMTAM has been making innovative and original visual theatre since 1979, with a starring role for found and discarded objects. These objects are combined with film images and music to create unexpected and humorous performances. After a TAMTAM performance you will never see a rusty hammer, an old pair of earphones or an unwanted cuddly toy in quite the same light again!
Suitable for all the family, the theatre production lasts approximately 20 minutes and will be performed three times a day Wednesday through Sunday (at 12.00, 14.00 en 15.00 hrs). Accompanying the production is a new exploration game, which allows children (and their parents and grandparents) to go in search of several ‘main characters’ from the story.
More information about the Sweet Summer
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Hortus/Corpus - Jan Fabre
April 10th, 2011 - September 4th, 2011
From April 10th, a major exhibition on and with Belgian artist Jan Fabre (Antwerp 1958) is on display. The title, which consists of the simple words, garden (hortus) and body (corpus), derives from the universe of Jan Fabre. The insect, the human, the angel and the blue of the perpetually recurring moment at which night becomes day and life awakens, play an important role therein. They are the four basic elements with which Fabre composes and reveals to us, in ever-altering arrays, his thoughts on life and death, beauty and disgust, vulnerability and violence, mortality and eternity.
With his sculptures, films and drawings in the exhibition spaces and with no fewer than five installations in the sculpture garden, Jan Fabre briefly makes the Kröller-Müller Museum his own personal domain. The emphasis here is on the human body; on the physical and the capacity for depleting and recharging energies. The man who measures the clouds (1998) is the first sculpture by Fabre that visitors to the exhibition encounter, while walking on the path through the front garden of the museum towards the entrance. On the right, a human figure stands on a small stepladder, perched on the edge of the museum’s roof. The man measures the clouds with a ruler. For Fabre, he symbolizes that which an artist does: balancing on the border between the possible and impossible.
Jan Fabre is internationally renowned as one of today’s most original and versatile artists. He has been making his name as a groundbreaking performance artist for over 25 years already. This basis provides the source for his plays and operas on the one hand, and his sculptural work on the other. The Kröller-Müller Museum is hosting Jan Fabre as a visual artist.
A catalogue will be published by NAi Publishers / Kröller-Müller Museum to accompany the exhibition (ISBN 978-90-5662-816-1). Order at the webshop
Jan Fabre in Cobra TV
Jan Fabre in VRT news
Download: bookletFabreweb.pdf
Expose - My favourite Landscape
November 27th, 2010 - March 6th, 2011
This is the very special follow-up to the successful exhibition concept Expose (winner of the Dutch Interactive Award 2010), which gave visitors the opportunity to select works from the collection. The exhibition Expose - My Favourite Landscape has been selected entirely by children. They have choosen their favourite works from a selection of fifty beautiful landscapes through the website www.expose.nl and gave their reasons why these works simply must be included in the exhibition. The exhibition has been made up of the twenty works with the most votes along with the best arguments and the most interesting texts.
Expose - My Favourite Landscape is loosely related to ‘Look! A floating pan!’ an educative partnership with Theatergroep Kwatta in which children are introduced to the sculpture garden and are encouraged to make imaginative associations between various works in the collection.
For more information please visit: http://editie2.kmmexpose.nl/
Helene’s men - Life, love, art and building
November 19th, 2010 - February 27th, 2011
The exhibition Helene’s men will give an intimate and personal insight into this woman, who, with her collection, laid the foundations for one of the first museums of modern art in the Netherlands. The reason for this exhibition is the publication of the long awaited biography of Helene Kröller-Müller.Despite her own vitality and independent spirit, Helene Kröller-Müller regarded women – including herself – as creatures largely incapable of great achievements. Perhaps for this reason she surrounded herself with a number of talented men, to help her realize her life’s ambition. By listening to their advice, but also often whole-heartedly disagreeing with them, she was able to build a ‘monument to culture’ that would belong to the Dutch people.
In four exhibition spaces the life of Helene Kröller-Müller is revealed through the prism of the men in her life. Helene’s childhood in Germany and her first few years in the Netherlands are examined in life. In these years her father Wilhelm Müller and husband Anton expand the family business Müller & Co into a highly profitable concern, which enables the later acquisition of art. Initially, Helene’s love is devoted to her children, but is later directed increasingly toward her kindred spirit, sounding board and successor Sam van Deventer. Her acquaintance with modern art represents a turning point.
Her advisor H.P. Bremmer and the art of Vincent van Gogh provide her with a new goal in life and transform her into an ambitious collector. Her growing self-awareness can be seen in building. Helene offers H.P. Berlage commissions including that for the St. Hubertus Hunting Lodge, but he never completes the work due to the continual disputes with Helene. After numerous difficulties and setbacks, in 1938 Helene is able to open her museum, which is designed by Henry van de Velde.
The works of art in this exhibition – both celebrated major works and modest, though enlightening acquisitions – each reveal in their own manner a particular facet of Helene’s life. Alongside these, personal effects and photographs from her legacy are also on display.
The biography is available from mid-November (for now) only in a Dutch edition: De eeuwigheid verzameld. Helene Kröller-Müller (1869-1939), author Eva Rovers, Publisher Bert Bakker, ISBN 9789035135512. To order
Photo: Helene Kröller-Müller flanked by her confidant Sam van Deventer (left) and her husband Anton Kröller
Download: booklet_Helenes_men_ENG.pdf
Gilbert & George: The Paintings
July 9th, 2010 - February 20th, 2011
From July 9th 2010, The Paintings (with Us in the Nature) 1971 by Gilbert & George is on display in the large exhibition space in the Quist wing. This unusual "Sculpture" from 1971 consists of 6 huge painted triptychs. At that time, the artists called this a ‘new romantic sad beautiful sculpture’. Painted in oils on linen in the winter of 1970-71, the "Sculpture" is a recreation of the emotions they experienced the previous summer in the English countryside.This is the only sculpture by these ‘human sculptors’ using this technique. The 1960s and 70s were a time of artistic experimentation around an expanded conception of art: artists broadened the possibilities for large-scale art and with tremendous ingenuity, which remains a source of inspiration. In those years Gilbert & George used various new and classical techniques in order to convey their personal experience of time and space to the public in the form of an artistic experience. They became renowned for their performances as living sculptures in museums, with grease paint on their faces and hands, but they also distributed printed sculptures by post, sung and danced as musical sculptures, produced video sculptures, made drawings as pieces of sculpture and wrote sculptures in the form of books.
Huge negative based pictures eventually became their most important artistic medium. In The Paintings (with Us in the Nature) they set out their relationship to nature. They depict themselves sitting and strolling in the overwhelming presence of nature. In every triptych (each measuring 230 x 680 cm) a single element from culture is always present as a counterpoint. The context of the museum and its collection, in which (critical) examinations of paradise form a spearhead, will allow The Paintings (with Us in the Nature) to be shown to optimal advantage.
Since the inception of the exhibition, the Kröller-Müller Museum had begun to raise funds to acquire this extraordinary work. Six months later the museum has achieved its aim in raising the required sum of more than 2.5 million euros. The acquisition has been made possible thanks to contributions from the following partners: BankGiro Lottery: € 750,000; the National Acquisition Fund of the Ministry of Education, Culture and Science: € 700,000; the Mondriaan Foundation: € 300,000; the SNS REAAL Fund: € 250,000; the Rembrandt Association and its Titus Fund: € 250,000 and the VSB Foundation: € 250,000. The work was in the collection of the artists. More information
Download: booklet_G&G_ENG.pdf
Welcome Ad Reinhardt - Black and white in the collection of the Kröller-Müller Museum
September 17th, 2010 - February 20th, 2011
From September 17th 2010 until Februari 20th 2011 the Kröller-Müller Museum will show two important new acquisitions in the context of the museum’s collection: Ultimate Painting No. 39 from Ad Reinhardt and La Pièce from Ger van Elk, in the exhibition 'Welcome Ad Reinhardt, black and white in the collection of the Kröller-Müller Museum'.
Ad Reinhardt (1913-1967) was an American artist in the abstract-geometric tradition and a great admirer of Piet Mondriaan (1872-1944). In his search for the essence of art, he discarded ever more elements of his artistic vocabulary, until, from the late 50’s on, he focused solely on painting canvases in shades of black and in simple cruciform compositions. The minimal and conceptual artists of the subsequent decades regarded him as an important pioneer for their art. The Kröller-Müller Museum, which has a magnificent collection of work by these artists, has for many years been eagerly awaiting the opportunity to add a work by Reinhardt to the collection. Until now, he has remained unrepresented in any public collection in the Netherlands. In 2010, with the support of the BankGiro Lottery, the Mondriaan Foundation and the Titus Fund of the Rembrandt Association, a black painting by Ad Reinhardt from 1960 was acquired from an American private collector for the sum of EUR 800,000.
La Pièce is a momentous work in the history of Dutch art and was purchased by the Kröller-Müller Museum in 2009. This work by the then 30-year-old Ger van Elk has developed into one of the most celebrated works in conceptual art. Van Elk made the work in response to the large-scale, and in his opinion megalomaniacal works that conceptual and land art gave rise to. He wanted to make a work that spanned half the globe by travelling to the cleanest, most dust-free spot on the ocean in order to paint a small wooden block. In January 1971 he boarded a cargo ship heading for Greenland and eventually painted the block in question to the west of Iceland. In one respect the work embodied a forceful and critical statement on the extent to which the dematerialization of art could be taken (a topic, if not the topic in those years), while simultaneously it opened up new and unprecedented possibilities for the application of time, space and process in visual art. The work is significant to the Kröller-Müller Museum, as the museum has built up a centre of gravity around the crucial developments in visual art during the 1960s and 70s; around minimal art, land art, Arte Povera and conceptual art, which have since emerged as the last of the avant-garde movements. The term ‘sculpture’ is another pivotal aspect in the museum’s collection, and specifically the critical relationship to nature. Polarising works of art with character that dovetail with these themes belong in the Kröller-Müller Museum. La Pièce was purchased with support from the BankGiro Lottery, through the Kröller-Müller Fund for the sum of EUR 175,000.
The two acquisitions are shown together with works from the Kröller-Müller collection by European and American contemporaries and admirers of Ad Reinhardt, such as Armando, Elsworth Kelly and Carl Andre.
Download: kmm_10_zaaltekst_reinhardt_ENGweb.pdf
Sweet Summer Guests
July 2nd, 2010 - August 22nd, 2010
This summer the museum presents Sweet Summer Guests in the sculpture garden as part of the Sweet Summer programme. The Sweet Summer Guests are two artists at the cutting edge of the visual arts. From July 2nd till 30th, visual artist Judith Nab will be present with her multimedia installation ‘Nightshot’ while audio-machinist Geert Jonkers will be making direct contact with his exhibition in Radio Kootwijk ‘De volgende toon’ (The Next Tone) from July 11th till August 22nd.
'Nightshot' by Judith Nab (an installation of 6 minutes for a single visitor) is about the darkness and the night inside our own head. A camera looks out and registers the outside world; in Nightshot, you can go inside the camera and look to a inside world. Inside the camera the visitor is isolated from the sound and light of the outside world. 'Nightshot' shows the relativity of the image we have of ourselves – and of others. 'Nightshot' also wants to give space to everyone’s imagination.
More information about the Sweet Summer Nights
Cornelius Rogge: Armada
June 10th, 2010 - November 14th, 2010
This summer, in the activity area in the sculpture garden, the museum presents a boat project by Cornelius Rogge (1932). From a distance the boats appear to float on a sea of grass. They are museum boats: on the water these boats used to be carriers of all manner of cargo, now they stand aground and carry stories and legends. They have an undercarriage on wheels, which makes their material voyage easier; they tell tales of arrival and moving on and the memories of the water.The vessels are part of an Armada of soul ships. The term ‘Soul Ships’ is a combination of something tangible (the ship) and something immaterial (the soul). Joost van den Vondel uses the term ‘soul ship’ in the context of liberation from the earthly and the crossing over to the heavenly. The ship is the pre-eminent vehicle of crossing, of transformation. And transformation is the connecting thread in Rogge’s work.
Rogge often provides his sculptures with a base. For the work Cicero, which is also on display in the sculpture garden, he uses a wagon; in this instance the boats are the bases. Four of the soul ships have been shown previously, for this exhibition they are supplemented by twelve new ships. According to the artist, the sixteen vessels can be seen as a sort of rebus: a few elements (often with religious associations) are provided, and observers can then seek their own explanations. The boats carry strange attributes and proclaim strange messages. The artist deliberate leaves the individual works untitled. The observer is free to provide his or her own interpretation.
Rogge is a good friend of the museum. Various other works by this artist are included in the museum’s permanent collection, including the impressive Tent project (1975) and Cicero (2000), which are on constant display in the sculpture garden.
Download: booklet_Rogge.pdf
The creation of a lasting monument - From estate to national park De Hoge Veluwe
April 24th, 2010 - November 7th, 2010
In 2010, National Park De Hoge Veluwe celebrates its 75th anniversary. To mark this occasion, the museum is organising an exhibition entirely devoted to the Park’s unique history. The couple Anton and Helene Kröller-Müller purchased the estate in stages at the beginning of the 20th century. In this manner they acquired a large area of land that they arranged to their own taste. In spite of the private character of the estate the couple had a higher purpose, namely to create a “lasting monument, which would bring together nature and art in an unusual manner”. In 1935 the estate was handed over to National Park De Hoge Veluwe Foundation and from then on it belongs to “the Community” and is open to visitors.
National Park De Hoge Veluwe is characterized by its natural beauty and by the remarkable way in which the small and large ‘monuments’ have been given a place in the park. Although the Kröllers stated that the notion of “the common good” played a role from the very start, the park’s initial private character is still visible, if only by the existence of St. Hubertus Hunting Lodge where Anton and Helene Kröller-Müller lived for several years.
The exhibition will outline the development of the ideas underlying the establishment of National Park De Hoge Veluwe. Examples in words and pictures give an impression of how the park got its eventual shape. Letters, documents and working drawings shed light on plans that were either realized or abandoned. In addition, historic photographs give an impression of the developments within the park from the very first acquisitions. The ambiguity of the private character of the park versus the notion of the common good is a constant consideration in the exhibition.
Download: booklet_The_creation_of_a_lasting_monument.pdf
All or nothing - Robert van ’t Hoff, architect of a new society
April 2nd, 2010 - August 29th, 2010
The Dutch avant-garde architect Robert van ’t Hoff (1887-1979) realized a small and distinctive oeuvre. As a member of De Stijl, he strove together with other artists to create a new everyday environment. His work is characterized by a strong social engagement stemming from an anarcho-communist body of thought.The exhibition provides a retrospective of Robert van ’t Hoff’s oeuvre and aims to sketch his personality. In addition to the original drawings and photographs of his built oeuvre, the best known examples of which are Zomerhuis Verloop (1914-1915) and Villa Henny (the Concrete Villa, 1914-1919), you can also see, for instance, furniture, sketches for communes and rare socio-utopian documents that were in his possession.
The presentation was motivated by the museum’s acquisition of a complete interior of a study he designed for himself in about 1960. This retrospective also includes other projects that are exhibited for the first time, such as a three-seat sofa (1920) and a small oak bookcase (circa 1933), which he had made for his own use. The architecture department of the TU Delft reconstructed a chair by Van ’t Hoff, the original of which, built by Rietveld in 1918, has been lost. By also showing the work of artist and architect friends, such as the painters Mondriaan and Bomberg, and architects Elling and Rietveld, his revolutionary character and specific role within the progressive art movement of the early twentieth century becomes visible.
The exhibition is realized in association with the Netherlands Architecture Institute in Rotterdam (NAi). A monograph on Van ’t Hoff is published by NAi Publishers to accompany the exhibition, with a complete overview of the works, and texts by Dolf Broekhuizen (ed.), Evert van Straaten and Herman van Bergeijk. More information and orders
More information about the aquisition of the interior
Download: Alles_of_niets_All_or_nothing.pdf
Matt Mullican
April 2nd, 2010 - August 29th, 2010
From April 2nd, work from the collection by American artist Matt Mullican (Santa Monica 1951) is on display in the Kröller-Müller Museum.In its structuring principles and formal idiom, the world of Mullican has much in common with the utopian body of thought of the modernist artists (the classical avant-garde) from the 20th century. There is one important difference: artists such as Robert van ’t Hoff (to whom, starting April 2nd, a retrospective is devoted in the spaces next to these works by Mullican) and Theo van Doesburg wanted to improve the world and hoped to contribute to a change in the social reality, while Mullican is an individualistic thinker, who creates a virtual artistic universe in various media in order to sharpen the mind.
banner: Matt Mullican, The Computer Project, 1989 – 1990 (computeranimation)
Download: booklet_mullican_ENG.pdf
Joost van den Toorn and the outsider art
March 13th, 2010 - June 20th, 2010
In the print room, the museum is showing bronze and ceramic sculptures by Dutch artist Joost van den Toorn, in combination with a collection of outsider art accumulated by the artist himself. Van den Toorn feels it particularly poignant to display his collection in the Kröller-Müller Museum due to the large collection of paintings by Vincent van Gogh. Of all artists, Vincent in particular was regarded as an outsider in his early years, and thereafter.He says of his collection: “Good art is so hard to find that you are better off searching for it in the less obvious places as well. Not just from afar, but also on the fringes of our society. Much of the work collected here was made in psychiatric institutions, such as the Gugging in Maria Gugging in Austria, in homeless shelters, or on the streets. The results of ten years of frenzied collection are displayed in the museum. Acquired from five or so specialized galleries in Europe, America and at auctions. I hope that this impassioned, uncompromising art inspires you as much as it has, and still does inspire me.”
Joost van den Toorn (1954) studied at the Gerrit Rietveld Academie. In 1990 he was presented with the Leonado da Vinci award. He exhibits in solo and group exhibitions in the Netherlands and abroad. Joost van den Toorn’s work is characterized by irony, gravity, melancholy and human inadequacies.
Multiple
Joost van den Toorn developed a multiple especially for the Kröller-Müller Museum. It is a portrait of Vincent van Gogh with a pipe in his mouth and a bottle in his hand, sitting at a table with a vase of sunflowers. When the moving element in the base is pressed with the thumb, Van Gogh and the little table move about and the famous painter appears intoxicated. Van den Toorn commissioned toy factory Detoa in the Czech Republic to produce a limited edition of 1500 pieces of the push puppet in 2010. At €15 it is currently on sale at the museum shop, which also has Joost van der Toorn’s beautiful 2003 book Homo vapor est available at €25 instead of the regular price of €76 (special offer, only valid for duration of exhibition). During the exhibition (from 13 March until 20 June 2010), the book and push puppet are also available together at the special price of €37,50.
Here you can order the book
Here you can order the push puppet
Photo banner: Joost van den Toorn, Snail, 2004 (photographer Tom Haartsen)
Download: kmm_09_zaaltekst_toorn_ENG.pdf
The most beautiful works on paper
February 7th, 2010 - April 14th, 2010
The exhibition The most beautiful works on paper is the result of a new interactive concept that allows visitors to decide which parts of the museum collection they want to see. No fewer than 1,212 people went to www.kmmexpose.nl (only in Dutch) to select their personal Top 3 and say why they felt those works had to be on the list.
The exhibition shows the fifty most popular works and a selection of the most striking responses. The exhibition designers have taken their cue from the huge variety of Top 3’s, with often surprising combinations of colour, genre and so on. The exhibition shows once again that art is experienced differently by different people and at different moments in time.
The final Top 3 includes Horse by Marino Marini (no.1), Marie Botkine in an astrakhan coat by Odilon Redon (no.2) and Woman-dancer by Pablo Picasso (no.3).
The Kröller-Müller Museum will continue to use Expose as a way of involving visitors directly in the organisation and design of exhibitions.
The booklet you can download below, contains the final Top 50 and provides brief descriptions of the selected artists, with reference to the work(s) on display in the exhibition. At the back is a column by museum director Evert van Straaten, entitled 'Charts and canons'. This column (and all the others he has written) can be found here.
Download: booklet_The_most_beautiful_works_on_paper.pdf
Loes van der Horst 90th anniversary - Spatial structures and vast landscapes
November 7th, 2009 - January 31st, 2010
In honour of the 90th birthday of Loes van der Horst on 11 December 2009, the Kröller-Müller Museum is showing drawings from the collection and two sculptures.
After completing her studies at the Kunstgewerbeschule in Vienna and the Koninklijke Academie in The Hague, Loes van der Horst was initially active as a painter and draughtswoman and from 1959 as a weaver. Since the early nineteen seventies she has been making three-dimensional work with a constructional character, whereby the internal tension of the piece combined with its location leads to an intensification of the experience of the space. By stretching lines and surfaces across the space, she steers the eye and offers a helping hand in a personal exploration of the space. This aspect comes to the fore in a much freer form in her drawings.
In the drawings presented, different examples of her approach can be found: lines that dissect the space, small surfaces that balance in a diffuse space, three-dimensional structures and vast landscapes. The display case contains sketches for projects, which are on loan from Loes van der Horst for this occasion. The two sculptures are fine examples of the seemingly nonchalant way in which she manipulates material and space.
Image banner: Loes van der Horst, Dunne lijnen, 1993
Download: booklet_loes_van_der_horst.pdf
Club Mama Gemütlich - Christiaan Bastiaans
October 30th, 2009 - February 21st, 2010
From October 30 2009 until Februari 21 2010, the Kröller-Müller Museum presents an exhibition with work by the Dutch artist Christiaan Bastiaans (Amsterdam, 1951) with the title Club Mama Gemütlich.
Club Mama Gemütlich is a hybrid combination of ‘field hospital, missionary post and nightclub', in the no-man’s-land of a conflict zone.
The installation by Bastiaans is based on the architectural layout of the Noh theatre and consists of sculptures, photographic works, video, a film, and works on paper.
Bastiaans' signature way-finding rhetoric revealed in the multi-layering of various media provides a humanistic salve: the stories and oral histories the artist has collected from his visits to conflict zones weave a tapestry of Divine Madness into a tour de force of inspiration, poetry and hope.
The centerpiece of the exhibition is Bastiaans’ new 28 minutes film.
The film, with the same title as the exhibition, consists of seven scenes. Each scene derives from a found war- photograph and takes place in an improvised shelter for a group of wounded soldiers. The protagonist La Vivre, a part created for and played by the French actress Jeanne Moreau, allows hope, consolation and warmth to still seem to be within reach.
A book with a detailed visual essay accompanies the exhibition. The book is for sale at the museumshop andat the webshop (€ 34,50).
The film is produced by Rudolf Evenhuis with support from the Netherlands Film Fund and the Netherlands Foundation for Visual Arts, Design and Architecture.
The AVRO programme ‘4 Art’ was devoted to the artist Christiaan Bastiaans and Club Mama Gemütlich. Watch the show (partly English spoken)
Download: paper_club_mama_gemütlich_ENG.pdf
A procession of sculptures - ten Dutch sculptors
September 11th, 2009 - March 14th, 2010
Guest curators: Rudi Fuchs and Maarten BertheuxGuest curators Rudi Fuchs and Maarten Bertheux have made a selection of works by ten Dutch (or Dutch-based) sculptors, who belong to the generation born during or around the time of the Second World War.
This involves figurative, abstract and particularly recent work by Adam Colton, Jeroen Henneman, Michael Jacklin, Jos Kruit, Jan Maaskant, Avery Preesman, Shinkichi Tajiri, Piet Tuytel, Peer Veneman and Leo Vroegindeweij.
Fuchs and Bertheux place sculptures next to or opposite each other in a meticulous mise en scène, which invites the visitor to draw comparisons: the observation of all manner of differences is, in fact, the way to see and experience this enigmatic art. By simply walking through the exhibition halls, the visitors can imagine themselves in a paradisiacal garden filled with sculptures, reliefs and drawings.
Download: Booklet_A_procession_of_sculptures.pdf
Brancusi and Co
July 11th, 2009 - November 1st, 2009
In the presentation Brancusi and Co, all works by Constantin Brancusi (1876-1957) in the museum’s collection are on display. Brancusi is regarded as the pioneer of modern sculpture. It is a playful presentation with 18th and 19th century Chinese philosophers’ stones and with works by Stanley Brouwn, Sol LeWitt, Daan van Golden and Konrad Lueg.The presentation came about in connection with the recent acquisition of an exceptional drawing by the artist from a private collector. The drawing consists of the highly stylized head of a woman, executed in pencil on coarse paper.
The acquisition of the drawing further enriches the context in which the Brancusi sculpture acquired by the museum in 1995, Le Commencement du monde from 1924, can be displayed. The collection now contains two sculptures, two drawings and four photographs by the artist, which focus on the theme of the abstracted head.
Brancusi had an almost obsessive interest in the oval and ovoid form, as a symbol of the cosmic, the beginning of all creativity.
Download: booklet_brancusi_en_co_eng.pdf
Sweet Summer Guests
July 1st, 2009 - August 31st, 2009
This summer, for the first time, the museum presents two Sweet Summer Guests. All summer their (temporary) artworks are on show in the sculpture garden. This year, works by two extraordinary artists will be on show: Nathalie Bruys and Geert Jonkers.
Soon you will find more information about the Sweet Summer Guests.
More information about the Sweet Summer
Young classics - chapters from the contemporary art collection
June 20th, 2009 - August 23rd, 2009
From June 20 the museum is exhibiting masterpieces of avant-garde art from the 1960s, 1970s and 1980s. These works, now considered classics, come from the museum’s rich collection of modern art. The shifting play of indirect sunlight from above accentuates the three-dimensional character of these works.The exhibition includes work by Ger van Elk, Jan Dibbets, Anselm Kiefer, Sigmar Polke, Joseph Kosuth, Bruce Nauman, Sol LeWitt, Dan Flavin, Robert Morris, Eva Hesse, Louise Bourgeois, Mario Merz, Gilberto Zorio, Luciano Fabro, Jannis Kounellis and Giovanni Anselmo.
The exhibition runs until August 23.
Download: zaaltekst_booklet.pdf
Simon Starling - works from the collection
May 21st, 2009 - September 13th, 2009
Throughout the summer, the museum will present an installation and series of photographs by Simon Starling in its large sculpture gallery.Starling's work focuses attention on the creative process by placing the production of art and practical implements in the context of economic and social processes of production. In many of his works, the quasi-uselessness of the artist’s manipulation of his materials (the act of charging them with artistic meaning) is directly linked to ‘useful’, economically meaningful processes.
The installation Blue, Red, Yellow, Djungel investigates the functionality of the artistic process. The work consists of an enormous, hand-printed curtain – a replica of a famous 1928 design by Josef Frank – and all the materials that were needed to make the curtain, from the tree cut down in Trinidad on 22 March 2002 to the tables on which the work was done and the pots of dye used in printing the pattern. It seems obvious that the time-consuming process of making the replica has no economic utility. Starling seems to invite us to think about how much material and energy it is worth using to make art or anything else.
The work Trinidad tree house is closely connected to Blue, Red, Yellow, Djungel. The photographs in this series show the construction of a log cabin using the timber from an unsuccessful attempt to replace rainforest with commercial silviculture. The cabin was built on the very site of the failed project.
Download: zaaltekst_(booklet)_simon_starling.pdf
To clean or not to clean - cleaning of works of art on show
March 10th, 2009 - May 10th, 2009
Until May 10 2009 the Kröller-Müller Museum offers visitors a glimpse into the conservation of museum objects. The museum’s largest display room is to host a cleaning operation of one of the Kröller-Müller Museum’s storage depots. All the objects from the depot will be moved upstairs, where they will undergo conservation. In addition, the details and condition of each of the works of art will be re-recorded. Visitors will see a cross section of the sculpture and modern art collection, including work by Constant, Tinguely, Carel Visser, Rädecker and Mendes da Costa.
More information
Videoproduction: Glasnost media, Remco Posthumus and Robin van Oijen
Download: introduction_eng.pdf
unity - herman de vries
February 20th, 2009 - June 7th, 2009
With unity the Kröller-Müller museum exhibits its extensive collection of works by herman de vries (born 1931). The exhibition provides an overview of the diverse angles and methods that de vries has employed in the past 50 years. His philosophical and scientific concepts are realized in collages of natural objects, graphical works and audio recordings. Some recent acquisitions expand the scope with de vries' typical 'earth rubbings', installations, and more. Contrary to his diversity of forms, his oeuvre is strongly unified on a conceptual level. A piece by de vries is always linked to his other works, and thus has multiple collective meanings. By contrasting interconnection with heterogeneousness, unity offers a demonstration of the universal polarity unity/diversity.
Coinciding with the display of the installation mesa, a new book by de vries is published and available at the museum store.
Download: kmm_09_zaaltekst_de_vries_ENG.pdf
Rearrangement
February 2nd, 2009 - February 19th, 2009
From February 2nd thru February 19th, 2009, the exhibition room in the Quist wing is closed due to the mounting of the exhibition unity. At present works by a.o. Bart van der Leck, Ana Maria Tavares and Reiner Ruthenbeck are shown in other exhibition rooms, apart from our standing collection.Exhibitions expected
Photo: Ana Maria Tavares, The Wish-ribbon net and Crystal waters, 2008 (Photographer: Fabiola Salles)
Nature, space and time - recent acquisitions
October 24th, 2008 - February 1st, 2009
The museum regularly exhibits its recent acquisitions in special presentations. On this occasion the presentation is based upon a free interpretation of the theme: nature, space and time. The exhibition contains mainly installations, photographs and video works by the following artists: Lara Almarcegui, Gerard Byrne, Wessel Couzijn, Jan Dibbets, Willie Doherty, Stanislav Filko, Mario Garcia Torres, Stephen Kaltenbach, On Kawara, Marta Pan, Jan van de Pavert, Robert Smithson, Simon Starling, Thomas Struth, Peter Struycken, Rob Sweere, Ana Maria Tavares and Jeff Wall. The museum’s director has written an extensive introductory text to accompany the exhibition. You can download the text underneath.
Photo banner: Rob Sweere, Silent Sky Project#21 July 7th 2007, 5.30-6.00 pm, 126 participants, Kröller-Müller Museum, The Netherlands, 2007
Download: Nature,_space_and_time.pdf
Vincent van Gogh: ‘Four sunflowers gone to seed’
August 8th, 2008 - October 12th, 2008
One hundred years ago, on 8 August 1908, Helene Kröller-Müller purchased the painting ‘Four sunflowers gone to seed’ by Vincent van Gogh. In honour of this, the museum has mounted a display in a project room that looks at various aspects of this very special painting and at the subject that is associated with Van Gogh all over the world.
Download: zaaltekst_Vier_uitgebloeide_zonnebloemen_EN.pdf
Kubusproject, 1969-1971
July 5th, 2008 - January 4th, 2009
At the end of 2007, the Kröller-Müller Museum received a unique work of art: the Kubus Project by composer Ton Bruynèl (1934-1998) and sculptor Carel Visser (1928). The work, an environment in which music and sculpture form an inseparable unity and wherein the visitor is also invited to partake, came into being in Ton Bruynèl’s studio between 1969 and 1971. It was first set up in 1971 at the Stedelijk Museum Amsterdam within the context of experimental music and the visual arts and was considered a special experience by both young and old. In 1976, it was exhibited in a slightly altered set-up at the Centraal Museum Utrecht. After that, it disappeared from view.Now in 2008, exactly 10 years after Bruynèl’s death and in Visser’s 80th year, it has turned up again. For many years, friends of Bruynèls kept the work in and around their house, first in the Netherlands and later in France, i.e. the two impressive sound machines and the accompanying tapes with Bruynèl’s composition and Visser’s steel cubes.
Download: Kubus_Project_eng.pdf
Ana Maria Tavares
July 5th, 2008 - October 23rd, 2008
In the framework of the sculpture exhibition ‘Sonsbeek 2008: Grandeur’, the Kröller-Müller Museum shows work by one of the participating artists, Ana Maria Tavares. Tavares is fascinated with water. The workings of the water in the streams in and around Park Sonsbeek in Arnhem inspired her work, both in Sonsbeek and at this museum. During her investigations, she discovered some 80 springs in the vicinity, flowing into a large number of streams. The names of these springs – along with the mantra ‘Desire, Deserve, Delight, Still Life, Sparkling Water, Still Water, Sparkling Life’ are part of Crystal Waters. This object, specially made for the museum consists of stacked layers of reflecting coloured acrylic glass. The mantra also appears in the net of ribbons that was carried as a banner in the Sonsbeek Procession and now makes up the installation, in combination with Crystal Waters and a map of locations. From Oktober 24 2008 until February 1 2009 the installation is part of the exhibition Nature, space and time. The exhibition ‘Sonsbeek 2008: Grandeur’ ended 21 September.
More information about Sonsbeek 2008: Grandeur is available at http://www.sonsbeek2008.nl.
Photo banner: detail Wish-Ribbon Net
Nature as Artifice: new Dutch landscape in photography and video art
June 12th, 2008 - September 28th, 2008
Worldwide, ‘Dutch landscape’ still evokes an immediate mental picture: the picture of the idyllic agrarian landscape that is rooted in the tradition of Dutch landscape painting. However, the Netherlands, like many other countries, has changed radically in its function over the last century, and has thus also altered in its appearance. Affected by a global reordering of production and industry, the agrarian function of the landscape is making way for suburbanisation, recreation, industrial and business parks and infrastructure for transportation. Today it is precisely the planning, the artificial manner in which the Dutch manipulate their landscape and nature in a continual and far-reaching way, for which The Netherlands is internationally famed. Since the end of the 1980s a number of Dutch photographers and filmmakers have been taking exactly this artificial character of the Dutch landscape and nature as their point of departure. In the framework of the international Triennial Apeldoorn on gardens and landscape architecture, Nature as Artifice shows work by a number of them. With work by Hans Aarsman, Theo Baart, Wout Berger, Henze Boekhout, Driessens & Verstappen, Marnix Goossens, Arnoud Holleman, Gert Jan Kocken, Jannes Linders, Cary Markerink, Hans van der Meer, Gábor Ösz, Bas Princen, Xavier Ribas, Gerco de Ruijter, Frank van der Salm, Hans Werlemann and Edwin Zwakman.
Guest curator: Maartje van den Heuvel.
Photo banner: Cary Markerink, A4 Schiphol, from: Snelweg, 1996
REDONE. Conceptual art from the collection
May 24th, 2008 - October 12th, 2008
The exhibition REDONE. Conceptual art from the collection is the result of a collaboration between the Kröller-Müller Museum and the art history department of the VU University Amsterdam. In a seminar the students selected conceptual pieces from the museum’s collection to be subjected to closer examination. The central question here was how conceptual works of art, which, after all, do not consist of material, but the conveyance of a concept/ idea, might be presented once again, forty years after their creation.The Kröller-Müller Museum has a large collection of conceptual art. Some of these pieces were obtained through the private collections of the Vissers and Van Eelens; some have been acquired separately over the years. The exhibition brings together pieces that can be regarded as ‘textbook examples’ of conceptual art, but which also represent the paradox of ‘art as idea’. On show are works by a.o. Sol Lewitt, Gilbert & George, Daniel Buren, Richard Long, On Kawara en Jan Dibbets.
Download: zaaltekstREDONE_ENG_booklet.pdf
the place to be
April 3rd, 2008 - June 29th, 2008
‘the place to be’ is a special art project that contributes to a new outlook on the museum and its collection. The exhibition is a joint venture with the Dutch-German curators platform <gap>. It asked international artists Jürgen Stollhans (1962, Rheda Germany), Michael Stevenson (1964, Inglewood New Zealand) and art duo gerlach en koop (Netherlands) to let their their various cultural and artistic outlooks inspire them into creating temporary, autonomous works of art (sculpture, installation and graphics). The works are on display in the project rooms of the museum building.
Eylem Aladogan
February 21st, 2008 - June 8th, 2008
Eylem Aladogan (1975) makes monumental installations characterised by an intelligent interplay between architectural and more organic elements. She condenses the spatiality to create a concentrated dynamic that seems to hide deeper levels of meaning. The conceptual power of Aladogan’s pieces is matched by the extraordinary and sophisticated sensitivity with which she employs her materials.
In 2005 Aladogan was awarded the ABN Amro Art Prize for the remarkably topical and extremely personal oeuvre that she produced at such an early age.
The Kröller-Müller Museum is showing several of her sculptural installation pieces and will present her new installation Before Departure (all my changes were there) for the first time. The felt cables in this piece have been designed by Claudy Jongstra and some of the ceramic objects have been produced by Royal Tichelaar and the European Ceramic Workcentre.
A selection from the collection of contemporary art
December 22nd, 2007 - May 25th, 2008
For this exhibition the museum’s director has made a selection of works from the collection of contemporary art.
There is no precise theme, except perhaps the (im)perfection of the material and the form, demonstrated by the artist’s search for the right form with the help of the right materials. The exhibition comprises art works that we hope, both individually and as a group, will stimulate the visitor to ponder the same questions the artists asked themselves when making the works.
Works from Joseph Beuys, Jan Dibbets, Tom Claassen, Anish Kapoor, Anselm Kiefer, Cai Guo Qiang, Dennis Oppenheim.
The riddle of ‘Double Ingres’ - Van Gogh's drawings in the Kröller-Müller Museum re-examined
October 11th, 2007 - January 27th, 2008
On 11 Oktober 2007 the Kröller-Müller Museum will open the exhibition The riddle of ‘Double Ingres’ . The exhibition coincides with the publication of a catalogue of all the drawings by Vincent van Gogh in museum’s collection.A selection of approximately one hundred drawings will be on show – a must for those who love drawings and fans of Van Gogh. The exhibition highlights the most beautiful examples and the most remarkable discoveries as well as Van Gogh’s unprecedented experimentation with materials and techniques.
Star Portrait
August 30th, 2007 - September 23rd, 2007
Exhibition of a selection of portraits of Dutch celebrities produced by several Dutch artists for the new television show 'Star Portrait' .
Longing for the garden - sculptures from storage
June 21st, 2007 - September 23rd, 2007
This summer the sun will be shining on the sculptures of the Kröller-Müller Museum’s collection. The exhibition Longing for the garden – sculptures from storage presents works that were once acquired for the sculpture garden but which have not been seen for many years. The exhibition focuses on sculptures that were purchased specifically for the sculpture garden but which are no longer permanently displayed there, often because their materials proved unsuited to long-term display outdoors.
Nonetheless, they are part of the sculpture garden’s collection and it is fascinating to display them once again in the context of the garden in their weathered state, bearing the traces of their earlier life outdoors. Some of the works are displayed outside on the events area, including a 15-metre high Schwarz/weisse Doppelfahne, a black and white ‘double’ flag by the German artist Reiner Ruthenbeck. Other works are shown in the galleries and corridors of the Quist wing, including Alberto Giacometti’s L’Homme qui Marche II and Bruce Nauman’s Diamond Mind. The large sculpture gallery contains the imposing and colourful works with which young English sculptors Philip King and Anthony Caro breathed new life into the sculpture garden in the late 1960s. The print room is filled with preparatory studies and models for realised works such as Jean Dubuffet’s Jardin d’émail as well as plans for unrealised works. The single factor uniting these diverse exhibits is that they were all acquired for the sculpture garden.
The perfect moment to come and see these hidden and sometimes forgotten jewels, both inside and out. Including works by Christo, Jean Dubuffet, Bruce Nauman, Marta Pan, Auguste Rodin, Carel Visser and many other famous artists.
The exhibition coincides with the publication of Kröller-Müller Museum – the Sculpture Garden enabling you to enjoy all the sculptures at home. The book contains fascinating background information and beautiful photographs.
Happy Fashion Photography - Arnhem Fashion Biennale in the Kröller-Müller Museum
June 2nd, 2007 - August 5th, 2007
A group of Holland’s leading photographers exhibits a combination of striking photographs and remarkable objects. The originality that characterises the fashion designers in the 2007 Biennale can also be seen in the work of these photographers. Includes work by: Elle Verhagen/Carmen Freudenthal, Anuschka Blommers/Niels Schumm, Melanie Bonajo and Maurice Scheltens.
Inside Installations: Preservation and Presentation of Installation Art (Part II)
March 21st, 2007 - June 3rd, 2007
A special exhibition organized around the practice of preservation, conservation and presentation of installation art as part of the European research project 'Inside Installations: Preservation and Presentation of Installation Art'. The idea is to show a wide audience the problems and questions that a museum is confronted with during registration, conservation, preservation, installation and reinstallation of installation art. The visitor gets an impression of the decisions that are being made, how the artist is involved, the ideas of the owner and the information that is generated from the installation history of the piece. In this unique exhibition, visitors will see artworks being installed, documented, researched and even treated in the museum.Download: Flyer_Inside_Installations_at_the_Kr_ller-M_ller_Museum.pdf
Odilon Redon: works on paper
March 21st, 2007 - June 3rd, 2007
A selection of works on paper by Odilon Redon (1840-1916) is on display in the print room. Like Belgium, The Netherlands was one of the first countries to recognise the importance of Redon’s work. Several important collections of his work were assembled in Holland. Helene Kröller-Müller greatly admired the work of this French artist and, with her advisor H.P. Bremmer, she acquired several fine pieces by him.
Modern art from the permanent collection:
February 8th, 2007 - May 20th, 2007
Artists give their personal, critical and utopian visions of the world. Paintings, sculptures and drawings by artists including Constant, Eikelenboom, Filko, Genzken, Kiefer, Nauman, Ruthenbeck and Stenberg.
Van Eelen Collection
December 10th, 2006 - April 9th, 2007
In 2006 the museum acquired the collection of Herman and Henriëtte van Eelen-Weeber. The collection comprises thirty-five works by conceptual artists from the period 1965 to 1973, including several works by precursors from before that period. The collection is broadly representative of the development of conceptual art. Because the collection was assembled in a relatively short period of time (namely the abovementioned period) it functions as a time capsule. The collection was formed in close association with the artists themselves and their dealers. The couple’s personal approach to collecting and the individual stories behind the purchases gives the collection a value that is greater than the purely art-historical significance of the works. The collection is given an extra dimension by the inclusion of works by the ‘godfathers’ of conceptual art such as Yves Klein, Piero Manzoni and Barnett Newman.
The art tsar, H.P. Bremmer
October 14th, 2006 - February 25th, 2007
New closing date: February 25th
An exhibition in association with the publication of the book 'De Kunstpaus - H.P.Bremmer 1871-1956' by Hildelies Balk (published bij THOTH, www.thoth.nl).
2006 is the fiftieth anniversary of Bremmer’s death. Time for a look back at the life of this taste dictator and the far-reaching influence he had on his many followers, of whom Helene Kröller-Müller was the most famous. With works by a.o. Charley Toorop, John Rädecker and Vincent van Gogh, but also lesser-known masters from Bremmer’s ‘stable’ who are less frequently exhibited.
Living Art: On the Edge of Europe
July 1st, 2006 - October 1st, 2006
This exhibition comprises works by Eastern European artists of the 1960s and 1970s, works that remains topical and still speak to the imagination. The work of these artists was not officially recognised as art at the time in their own countries. However, they played an important role in contemporary Eastern European art and have helped to spark recent interest in this area. Mainly conceptual in nature, these works often explore social questions, in which society represents an all-encompassing concept of life. The exhibition includes works by: Atilla Csernik, Katalin Ladik, Slavko Matković, Bálint Szombathy, Stano Filko, Josip Vaništa, Marijan Jevšovar, Julije Knifer, Ivan Ko˛arić, Dimitrije Bašičević Mangelos, Edward Krasiński, Naško Kri˛nar, Milenko Matanović, David Nez, Marko Pogačnik, Andra˛ Šalamun, Goran Trbuljak.
The exhibition is accompanied by a catalogue containing documentation on the works, essays about the various artists and background articles, including contributions by Vit Havranek, Lukasz Ronduda, Biljana Tomic and Nathalie Zonnenberg (guest curator). The catalogue can be ordered by sending an e-mail to winkel@kmm.nl (25 euro; excl. of postage and shipping costs).
Download: testpdf.pdf
A selection of new acquisitions
April 15th, 2006 - June 18th, 2006
From 15 April the Kröller-Müller Museum presents an exhibition of recent acquisitions.
The exhibition of new acquisitions includes works by Atelier Van Lieshout, Christiaan Bastiaans, Jo Baer, Simon Starling (winner of the 2005 Turner Prize) and Jeff Wall. In recent years the museum has acquired works that explore social themes either implicitly or explicitly and which deal critically with the function of art and the role of artists. Several of these works will be included in this exhibition, setting up contrasts between various realities: art, nature and daily life. By selecting these particular artists the museum aims to underline the value of nuance and fragility. None of the artists represented here make moral pronouncements, but address the public from their own standpoints.
The BankGiro Loterij supported the purchase of these new acquisitions.
The Van Deventer-bequest
April 15th, 2006 - December 10th, 2006
In 2005 the Kröller-Müller Museum received an outstanding bequest of twenty-eight works from the estate of Jan Salomon Rudy Karl-Eugen (Rudi) van Deventer. Rudi van Deventer was the son of Sam van Deventer, a good friend of the Kröller-Müller family. The works, which are on display in an exhibition, are representive of Sam van Deventers collection and are entirely in keeping with the rest of the museums exhibits. The most outstanding items are two works by Vincent van Gogh, the drawing Woman with wheelbarrow (1883) and the painting Recumbent nude (1887). Also on show are works by artists including Odilon Redon, Georges Seurat and Bart van der Leck.
Aldo van Eyck pavilion
March 21st, 2006 - July 31st, 2006
The famous Aldo van Eyck pavilion, a jewel of 1960's architecture, had recently been reconstructed in the museum sculpture garden. Here you can see a presentation of small sculptures from the permanent collection by artists including Pearl Perlmuter, John Rädecker, Willem Reyers, Carel Visser and Frits Wotruba. A selection of architectural drawings and models by Aldo van Eyck.
Helene's favourites
August 10th, 2004 - April 1st, 2006
Following the successful exhibition 'Vincent & Helene', the Kröller-Müller Museum presents 'Helene’s Favourites' from 10 August 2004 – 1 September 2005. The exhibition consists of Helene Kröller-Müller's favourite paintings and decorative arts, supplemented with photographs of the interiors of her houses.
'Helene’s Favourites' comprises highlights from the museum’s collection including paintings by Vincent van Gogh, Josef Israels, Jan Toorop, Bart van der Leck, Odilon Redon, Henri Fantin-Latour, Paul Signac and Georges Seurat. Twenty showcases will contain photographs of the interiors of the various houses in which Helene Kröller-Müller lived combined with objects that were displayed in these interiors, some of which can be seen in the photographs: sculpture and applied arts by Joseph Mendes da Costa, Johan Altorf, John Rädecker, Joseph Czaky and George Minne as well as Greek vases and a silver service by Frans Zwollo.
The photographs from Helene’s personal archive help to paint a picture of the development of her collection and her personal taste. During the exhibition Vincent & Helene it became clear that there was strong public interest in Helene Kröller-Müller the woman. The archives have furnished much new information and have made clear the importance of certain objects within her collection.
The exhibition will be accompanied by a biographical sketch of Helene written by the museum’s curator Piet de Jonge. (ISBN 90-73313-22-8) -no longer available
The Sanders Collection
November 12th, 2005 - May 14th, 2006
This display in the print room comprised a surprising diversity of sculptures, reliefs, photographs and drawings all of which came from the Sanders collection and are now in the collection of the museum.
The collection was assembled by Ida and Piet Sanders, who have followed the newest developments in art and culture at home and abroad for more than fifty years. They are passionate collectors of contemporary art and to this day they continue to be attracted to emerging artists, whom they support and stimulate with their purchases. ‘Art must be seen’ is Ida and Piet Sanders’ motto. It is for this reason that they regularly donate portions of their collection to Dutch museums, gifts that they tailor to complement the museums’ existing collections. Over the years the Kröller-Muller Museum has been the grateful recipient of more than a hundred works from the couple, which have greatly enriched the museum’s collection.
The presentation was roughly chronological, beginning in the 1990s and then turning the clock back to earlier decades. Works from the 1990s included those of the Scottish artist David Mach (1956) and the Dutch artists Peer Veneman (1952) and Heringa/Van Kalsbeek (1962/1966). The 1950s were represented by works of the Dutch artists Constant (1920-2005) and Karel Appel (1921), the American Shinkichi Tajiri (1923) and the Danish artist Robert Jacobsen (1912-1993). Parallel to this internationally oriented collection, the Sanders have also collected and donated artefacts from Africa, Oceania, Peru and Mexico, some of which are included in this display.
Atelier van Lieshout: Happy Forest
June 4th, 2005 - October 2nd, 2005
More than thirty art works – colourful sculptures and mobile homes by Atelier Van Lieshout (AVL) – were installed on the events field and in the surrounding woods. Atelier Van Lieshout is an internationally renowned multidisciplinary company that works on contemporary art, design and architectural projects. The artist Joep van Lieshout founded AVL in 1995 to emphasise that his various products are the result of teamwork. AVL’s output varies from mobile homes, modular bathroom and kitchen units, sculptures, large installations and other functional art works, often in AVL’s hallmark material – brightly coloured polyester.
Cleveringa donation
May 14th, 2005 - November 6th, 2005
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This exhibition in the print room comprised 17 works donated to the Kröller-Müller Museum by Mr P. Cleveringa together with other works by the same artists from the museum’s collection.
Piet Cleveringa (b.1917) enjoyed a long career in government and public office before retiring from the Ministry of the Interior as Director of Police in 1981. Both before and since he has had a passionate love for the theatre and contemporary visual art. Since the 1960s he has assembled an impressive collection of art. Cleveringa developed his love for and knowledge of visual art by acquiring works that fascinated him. He is an aesthete for whom the most important aspect in a work of art is its sensitive use of materials. He is nonetheless always prepared to be challenged by an exciting picture.
Because he wishes to share his enjoyment of art with others, Cleveringa has subsequently gifted parts of his collection to various public institutions such as the Netherlands Institute for Cultural Heritage, the Stedelijk Museum De Lakenhal in Leiden and the Prentenkabinet of the University of Leiden. The Kröller-Müller Museum is very grateful for the donation of works by artists who were already represented in the museum’s collection, thus providing a better picture of their oeuvres. These artists, who are amongst Cleveringa’s favourites, include Phillip King (1934), Jiro Sugawara (1941), Ad Dekkers (1938-1974), Krijn Giezen (1939), Jan van Munster (1939), Jan Schoonhoven (1914-1994), Henk Visch (1950), Auke de Vries (1937), Sjoerd Buisman (1948) and Rudi van de Wint (1942).
Permanent collection - The director's choice
March 12th, 2005 - December 31st, 2005
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This exhibition was curated by the museum’s director Evert J. van Straaten, bringing old and new art into fascinating and surprising dialogues. Evert J. van Straaten on his selection: ‘To this day the animation of material and the development of the expressive power of artistic means such as colour, form and line continue to be at the core of artistic activity. Modern artists have often become specialists who, building upon the achievements of their predecessors, wish to achieve optimal expression with minimal means. For me, Kelly is the master of colour by robbing it as much as possible of its material character, and Andre is the master of materials by means of emphasis through simple repetition. These are two important poles amongst a chaos of standpoints. This display is just one possible selection out of many with which to encounter and enjoy art.’
In 1905 Helene Kröller-Müller began to follow the art course of the then art guru H.P. Bremmer, and became enthralled by modern art. With the financial support of her husband Anton Kröller, she assembled a collection that showed her vision of the development of the art of her time. Following the transfer of the collection to the Dutch State, Helene became the museum’s first director until her death in 1939. She was succeeded by Sam van Deventer and Willy Auping, who took charge of the museum until 1947, when Bram Hammacher became director. Rudi Oxenaar occupied the post from 1963 until the current director Evert J. van Straaten was appointed in 1990. Each of them has felt a strong affinity with Helene Kröller-Müller’s vision and each has attempted to interpret each other’s legacy for a new generation.
Eugčne Dodeigne
January 22nd, 2005 - May 8th, 2005
A newly acquired work entitled Sept (1993) by the French artist Eugène Dodeigne (b.1923) was placed in the sculpture garden. The work was a gift from the artist. The seven figures carved from Belgian freestone, each approx 2.5 m high – create a magical atmosphere in a somewhat remote spot. There is an earlier work by the artist, Homme et Femme (1964), in the sculpture garden, acquired the year it was made.
To coincide with the donation, there was an exhibition of ninety terracotta models and charcoal drawings by the sculptor in the print room.
Jślia Ventura, Marked printed exposed
November 27th, 2004 - January 16th, 2005
This retrospective exhibition of works by the Portuguese artist Júlia Ventura (1952) was organised in association with the Museu de Arte Contemporânea de Serralves in Porto. Júlia Ventura has split the majority of her working life between Amsterdam, Lisbon and her studio in Tomar. She has been part of both the Dutch and Portuguese art worlds since the early 1980s, although she exhibited mainly in the Netherlands in the 1980s. In both countries her work is recognised for its important contribution to the discussion on how photography can serve as a research tool into questions of self-identity.
Since the beginning of the 1990s Ventura’s focus has shifted to matters such as the trace, the print and their attendant suggestions of authenticity. She no longer restricts herself to photography but has begun to print hundreds of sheets of paper with her fingerprints, has used a rubber stamp of her profile to create potentially endlessly varied patterns and has produced ‘Nature Drawings’ by exposing drawing paper to the elements. She photographs her fingerprints and enlarges them to produce new images. Júlia Ventura employs a great variety of media, not in order to exploit all the possibilities, but as a result of the evolution of her artistic thinking.
Animals on paper
September 4th, 2004 - January 16th, 2005
This exhibition comprised the work of six artists who have employed images of animals in their drawings, collages and prints. Animals on Paper included rarely seen works by:
Albrecht Dürer (1471-1528); Francisco de Goya (1746-1828); Wouter van Troostwijk (1782-1810); Odilon Redon (1840-1916); Joseph Teixeiro de Mattos (1892-1921); Carel Visser (1928).
The exhibition showed that artists have approached the animal theme for very different reasons. In some works the animals represent a critique of human society, in others they are inventions of the artist and some of the works are made from animal materials. This disparity of motives was central to the exhibition, allowing a survey of work from different periods regardless of stylistic and technical matters.
Another space
September 4th, 2004 - December 12th, 2005
For the first time in the museum’s history, Another Space presented a completely new installation of works in the Van de Velde wing comprising an exciting selection from the museum’s collection of modern sculpture.
In the old sculpture gallery with its large windows overlooking the garden, works were exhibited by the Arte Povera artists Mario Merz (1925-2003), Giuseppe Penone (1947), Francesco Lo Savio (1935-1963), Gilberto Zorio (1944) and Jannis Kounellis (1936). In the small enclosed galleries there was a display of large Land Art works by Robert Smithson (1938-1973) and Dennis Oppenheim (1938), a stone circle by Richard Long (1945) and the more conceptual representation of nature by Dutch artists including Jan Dibbets (1941) and Jan van Munster (1939) and the recently acquired work Le Témoin (The Witness) by Herman de Vries (1931) comprising the age-old trunk of an olive tree.
At the centre of the building, the works of Van Gogh made way for two great women of modern art Louise Bourgeois (1911) and Eva Hesse (1936-1970). The display also included Anselm Kiefer’s ‘history’ paintings, and sculptures and impressive spatial studies on paper by the American artists Carl Andre (1935) and Bruce Nauman (1941). In the adjacent gallery was the work Turning the World Inside Out by Anish Kapoor (1954), and the remaining smaller galleries were filled with works by artists who reflect upon contemporary life in a more or less poetical manner.
Van Airut tot Uppik
June 12th, 2004 - December 12th, 2004
The Kröller-Müller Museum regularly acquires small sculptures as a constant undercurrent of the collection. The selection or recent acquisitions in this exhibition combined small sculpture and works on paper by artists from northern Canada, the Netherlands and anonymous artists from different cultures. The display included works by Inuit artists Luke Airut, Barnabus, Nelson Takkiruq and Lucy Uppik; works by Dutch artists Daniël Groen, Nel van Lith, Martin van Oel, Peter Otto and Joost van den Toorn and sculptures from Oceania.
Willem Reijers - breaking open forms
June 5th, 2004 - August 29th, 2004
In 1995 and 1996 the Kröller-Müller Museum purchased the majority of the estate of Willem Reijers (1910-1959) with support from the Mondriaan Stichting. To mark the publication of a book on the artist by Roel Arkesteijn the museum showed a selection of his sculptures in the print room. Central to this work is the balance between material, form and space. Reijers studied with Ossip Zadkine for four months in 1939 and was extremely important for the development of post-war Dutch sculpture.
Roel Arkestijn’s monograph on Willem Reijers was published by Waanders (ISBN 90-400-8876).
The Brits
May 22nd, 2004 - November 14th, 2004
The Kröller-Müller Museum has collected British art for more than fifty years. This exhibition was a survey of sculpture by Barbara Hepworth, Henry Moore, Anthony Caro, Phillip King, Barry Flanagan and Richard Long. The display illustrated the development of a particular sculptural tradition from the organic marble sculptures of Hepworth and Moore to Long’s wall drawing comprising handprints in mud.
LAB
May 1st, 2004 - September 26th, 2004
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Bart van der Leck
April 10th, 2004 - July 18th, 2004
This comprehensive retrospective of work by Bart van der Leck (1876-1958) was drawn from the museum’s own collection. The museum’s largest gallery was installed with special display cases to show early work by the artist, which his seldom seen.
Bart van der Leck (1876-1958) was central to Helene Kröller-Müller’s art collection. The museum owns scores of paintings and hundreds of drawings from his earliest period until 1926. In this exhibition his works were hung in chronological order. The only late painting in the collection was Compositie met grijze streep (Composition with Grey Stripe) from 1956-1958, which was purchased in 2001.
The exhibition showed the full breadth of Van der Leck’s work, from paintings and drawings to designs for interiors, tiles, plates, studies for stained glass and vintage photographs. Several of his rugs were shown alongside furniture by Van der Leck’s friend and colleague Gerrit Rietveld.
Portraits
April 10th, 2004 - May 23rd, 2004
This display in the print room consisted of a selection of portraits from the museum’s own collection.
Two brothers in the Kröller-Müller
April 3rd, 2004 - June 6th, 2004
This exhibition comprised new works by the Leiden-born brothers Pieter (1940) and Thom (1950) Geraedts. The artists do not work together but they do have intensive contact with each other. Their oeuvres have developed in parallel. The exciting interaction between their works will be elucidated by the exhibition’s installation.
Pieter Geraedts exhibited new works made from newspaper pulp together with older works in the Kröller-Müller Museum collection. His work has had a longstanding concern with Emptiness as the opposite of Being. He is constantly in search of the ultimate work of art. He wants to make the most impersonal and unintentional works of art possible. He prefers to work as nature does rather than from nature. A utopia? Pieter finds confirmation in Spinoza’s contention that nature has no goal and that all final causes are nothing but human fictions.
Thom Geraedts showed wall works (constellations) of cardboard and light materials; five newspapers published in extremely small editions; and a film entitled Weet niet (Don’t know). The subject of his art is Oneness. He seeks the realisation of Oneness in a dynamic way in his art and also in his daily life. He is inspired by Mondrian’s statement: “We must forget art in order to achieve beauty”.
The exhibition was accompanied by two publications: Pieter Geraedts published a calendar and Thom Geraedts an edition with DVD.
The Italians
January 17th, 2004 - May 9th, 2004
This presentation consisted of sculptures by important Arte Povera artists including Luciano Fabro (1936), Jannis Kounellis (1936) and Mario Merz (1925-2003).
Winter Collection
December 13th, 2003 - March 28th, 2004
This exhibition comprised paintings and works of applied art connected with the theme of winter.
Gilbert & George
November 29th, 2003 - February 29th, 2004
This presentation included artist’s books, prints, letters, invitation cards and all the photo works by Gilbert & George in the Kröller-Müller Museum’s collection augmented with loans from other Dutch museums.
Bastiaans/Leblanc
October 11th, 2003 - December 7th, 2003
The museum installed two small presentations of work by the Dutch artist Christiaan Bastiaans (1951) and the Belgian artist Walter Leblanc (1932-1986). In 2003 the museum acquired work by both artists, partially thanks to a donation from Leblanc’s widow.
Christo
August 23rd, 2003 - February 29th, 2004
This exhibition comprised drawings of projects that Christo (1935) designed specifically for the Kröller-Müller Museum and two sculptures: a storefront and an installation of oil barrels.
Minimal
July 12th, 2003 - November 23rd, 2003
A selection of works from the museum’s exceptional collection of Minimal Art was exhibited in the museum’s largest gallery. The four artists associated with the term Minimal Art in the early 1960s in New York were Carl Andre (1935), Dan Flavin (1933-1996), Donald Judd (1928-1994) and Sol LeWitt (1928).
Their work was a reaction against the Abstract Expressionism of the 1950s, which focussed on expressing the artist’s emotions. Minimal Art is characterised by pure geometrical elements, industrial materials such as iron, steel, aluminium and glass without applied colour. The essence of Minimal Art is the space it occupies, and of which the viewer is also a part.
The display included sculptures by the aforementioned artists as well as artists’ correspondence, certificates, small sculptures and drawings.
Pearl Perlmuter, inside/outside 1957-1968
May 17th, 2003 - August 17th, 2003
This exhibition showed 23 bronze sculptures by Pearl Perlmuter. Two works from the museum’s collection – Funeral Pyre and Wave – were augmented with loans from public and private collections. The sculptures were displayed inside the Rietveld pavilion and outside in the garden.
Pearl Perlmuter (New York, 1915) made an important contribution to the regeneration of Dutch sculpture. Struggle was a constant theme in her life and work. This is especially clear in the work Resistance, which the artist described as “a clenched fist, intended as a symbol of resistance”.
In later years this struggle against oppression became closely associated with the feminist movement. From 1977 Perlmuter became involved with the Stichting Amazone and the Stichting Vrouwen in de Beeldende Kunst (Women in the Visual Arts). In both organisations Perlmuter fought for better practical conditions for women to make art.
The exhibition was accompanied by the book Pearl Perlmuter, Inside/Outside 1857-1968, published by Galerie Willy Schoots (ISBN 90-73998-13-1)
Operation Panamarenko
March 1st, 2003 - June 1st, 2003
The Belgian artist Panamarenko (1940) shot to fame in 1968 when his Antwerp-based gallery Wide White Space presented his work entitled Dakgoot at the international art fair Prospect 68. A year later his work was shown at the Stedelijk Museum in Amsterdam and was included in an exhibition at the Kunsthalle in Bern. During the 1970s and 1980s the Kröller-Müller Museum acquired a large number of his works, which were brought together in this exhibition.
Two works dating from 1974, Vliegtuig Continental and Polistes, the rubber jet-propelled racing car, underwent conservation in the gallery. The restoration was aided by the study of old photographs of the works, which made clear just how much their condition had worsened over time.
Some modern works of art deteriorate because they include materials that are not durable. Repeated exhibition of the works does not help the situation. Polistes has a rubber skin, which should have a deep black gloss, covering a thick layer of polyurethane foam over a chassis of wood and metal. Both the rubber and foam layers were degraded. Although the deterioration of the materials can never be completely reversed, the damage to the works was dealt with as much as possible during the exhibition.
Vincent & Helene - to celebrate the 150th anniversary of Van Gogh's birth
February 14th, 2003 - January 4th, 2004
Between 1908 and 1929 Helene Kröller-Müller (1869 – 1939), the Kröller-Müller Museum’s founder, assembled a collection of almost three hundred works by Vincent van Gogh: 89 paintings and 185 drawings. The exhibition Vincent & Helene focussed on her passion for the work of this artist.
By showing all the paintings in the order they were acquired provided an insight into how Helene Kröller-Müller collected. The exhibition also included several works by other artists. Often Helene would buy several Van Goghs and then purchase paintings or objects by other artists in the same day because she could see connections between them.
Helene’s collection was originally displayed in her ‘museum house’. In order to suggest this domestic setting the exhibition included unique pieces of furniture designed by the architect H.P. Berlage for Helene. In addition to Helen’s personal documents such as photographs, books and letters, this furniture emphasised the highly personal character of this extraordinary collection. .
The exhibition was accompanied by two publications: a complete catalogue of the works of Van Gogh in the collection and a biography focussed on Helene’s collecting habits.
Kaleidoscope Night
November 30th, 2002 - January 12th, 2003
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In the museum’s largest gallery with a floor surface of approx. 400 m², Mark Manders constructed his ‘self-portrait as building’: a mysterious universe with a floor plan that, unbeknownst to the viewer, gives a place and meaning to all his works. The selection of the exhibited works, their position in the space and their relationship to each other are all part of Manders’ complex masterplan. A mixture of found and self-made objects, a so-called ‘moments machine’, large mannequins, all scaled down to 88% life size ensured for a an indefinable and silent atmosphere.
In the print room there was an accompanying display of ROMA Publications, a collaboration between Mark Manders and the graphic designer Roger Willems. Each of these independent artist’s publications is the result of a close working relationship between the two. ROMA Publications curated the exhibition, which was a complete survey of all its projects to date.
To coincide with the exhibition ROMA released the publication Open Days compiled by Marije Langelaar.
Clair-obscur, 7 sculptures - R.W. van de Wint
June 29th, 2002 - November 10th, 2002
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This exhibition of new works by R.W. van de Wint (1942) consisted of five sculptures, each displayed in a separate gallery, two sculptures in the garden and an accompanying display of ink drawings. The sculpture entitled View has been placed on permanent display in the sculpture garden.
Almost all the sculptures were made of sheets of rusted Cor-ten steel. The folded steel plates are self-supporting and require no additional structure. Van de Wint has compared pressing and folding the steel to the act of painting: a process over which you never have complete control.
A monograph on the artist by the art historian Jacqueline van Koningsbruggen was published by SUN (ISBN 90-58750-60-4).
Anachrom - Hermann Maier Neustadt
June 1st, 2002 - August 25th, 2002
Hermann Maier Neustad made the work WD-Spiral Part One CINEMA for the Sonsbeek 9 exhibition in 2001. To celebrate the permanent siting of the Kröller-Müller Museum’s sculpture garden, the artist created new works for an exhibition at the museum. He thus made a link between the history of his Sonsbeek works and the history of the work of Gerrit Rietveld, an important influence on him.
For the installation in four galleries Maier Neustadt made use of the historical relationship between the two works that were originally made for Sonsbeek. In addition he used the structural data and the visual characteristics of this important architectural milestone within the museum’s collection as a whole.
The exhibition was accompanied by the publication WD-Spiral Part One CINEMA (ISBN 90-74453-26-0)
Krijn Giezen
June 1st, 2002 - August 25th, 2002
In advance of the completion of Krijn Giezen’s work Kijk Uit (Look Out) Attention, the artist made an interim presentation entitled 'Look Out, an unusual walk through the sculpture garden, 1986-2002'. The presentation comprised a model and working drawings of Kijk Uit Attention and a projection of the view. The exhibition was accompanied by a publication about the project.
Kröller-Müller and the philosopher's stone
April 6th, 2002 - May 26th, 2002
The exhibition 'The Philosopher’s Stone' was aimed at children. It used magical and ritual objects to illustrate the world of Harry Potter. J.K. Rowling’s stories are full of playful references to history and literature and are populated by witches, mythical creatures and dwarves. Fans of Harry Potter will have recognised these figures in the exhibition. In addition to these subjects, the Kröller-Müller Museum has a great many owls. But the greatest attraction was the three philosopher’s stones – new acquisitions that were exhibited for the first time in this exhibition. The stones are naturally occurring minerals historically selected by Chinese philosophers for their particular colour, material and form as symbols of universal values. Such philosopher’s stones also play an important part in the Harry Potter stories. The exhibition also included works by Johan Coenraad Altorf, Philip ten Klooster Jr. and Joseph Mendes da Costa.
Hommes de valeur
March 23rd, 2002 - May 26th, 2002
This large exhibition was devoted to Henri Fantin-Latour, Odilon Redon and their contemporaries. These artists produced interesting oeuvres in Paris in the second half of the nineteenth century in the shadow of the Impressionists. This group of works was assembled by the museum’s founder, Helene Kröller-Müller, at the beginning of the twentieth century.
The exhibition was accompanied by a catalogue entitled Hommes de Valeur, published by Waanders and the Stichting Kröller-Müller Museum (ISBN 90-400-9675-9)
Melting snow
January 19th, 2002 - March 24th, 2002
This small exhibition on the theme of winter comprised works from the permanent collection, the majority of which came from the collection assembled by Helene and Anton Kröller-Müller. The exhibition included work by W.B. Tholen, Floris Verster, William Degouve de Nuncques, Willem de Zwart, Jan Toorop, Willem Witsen, Gustave Courbert and Vincent van Gogh.
Dan Graham - Works 1965-2000
November 24th, 2001 - February 24th, 2002
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Dan Graham’s largest retrospective exhibition to date provided a comprehensive survey of his rich and exciting oeuvre. Some sixty works represented every aspect of his output: photography, performance, conceptual work, installations, models, pavilions/sculptures and films.
Dan Graham is no stranger to the Kröller Müller Museum. In 1985 the museum acquired the work Two Adjacent Pavilions (1978-1982), which is sited in the garden at the front of the museum next to the entrance.
This travelling exhibition was organised by the Fundação de Serralves, Museu de Arte Contemporãneo, Porto, in association with the Musée d’Art Moderne de la Ville de Paris, Kröller-Müller Museum and Kiasma, the Museum of Contemporary Art, Helsinki.
The exhibition was accompanied by the richly illustrated book Dan Graham Works 1965-2000, published by Richter Verlag.
Eclipse - Miroslaw Balka
October 29th, 2001 - January 12th, 2002
The museum opened this exhibition to coincide with the completion of a new open-air sculpture by Miroslaw Balka (1958) entitled Fontein. The exhibition featured recent work by this Polish artist.
With a publication: Eclipse – Miroslaw Balka (ISBN 90-74453-24-4)
Passion for the avant-garde: the collection Visser - part of the Kröller-Müller Museum
September 29th, 2001 - November 4th, 2001
For more than thirty years the Visser collection has been like a ‘child at home’ in the Kröller-Müller Museum. For just as long the museum has borne witness to the passion with which the Vissers have sought their way in the world of avant-garde art. This exhibition celebrated the fact that the majority of the collection was to be housed permanently in the Kröller-Müller Museum.
Martin and Mia Visser have never viewed their collection as a static whole. For them, collecting is a way of life: works come and go in harmony with the changes in their artistic preferences. They have established personal relationships with many artists and have assembled a very important collection. The Vissers’ contribution is a source of inspiration for the museum.
With an accompanying catalogue The Collection Visser at the Kröller-Müller Museum – in English with introductory essays in Dutch (ISBN 90-74453-23-6).
BABUINO
September 6th, 2001 - October 7th, 2001
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An exhibition of recent works by Peter Otto, comprising paintings and one sculpture. His paintings bring together artistic subjects and images from daily life. His work invites multiple interpretations – the observer completes the story.
The artist’s book Peter Otto: voorvallen, occurrences, incidences (ISBN 90-806461-1-3) also appeared in 2001.
ABSORB
July 14th, 2001 - October 7th, 2001
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The first outdoor exhibition by the artistic duo Liet Heringa (1966) and Maarten van Kalsbeek (1962) in the Rietveld pavilion in the sculpture garden. Their sculptures fuse existing objects and natural elements, executed in porcelain, or cast bronze worked with wax, vaseline and honey. The exhibition comprised eleven sculptures.
An artist’s book entitled ABSORB was published to accompany the exhibition (ISBN 90-90149-34-1).
IKIRO/Be alive - Contemporary art from Japan – 1980 to the present
April 7th, 2001 - September 2nd, 2001
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The exhibition was devoted to contemporary Japanese art from the preceding twenty years. It included eighteen artists with a remarkable contrast between the older and younger generations. The older artists were driven by spiritual beliefs and traditional values whereas the younger artists were inspired by contemporary Japanese society.
Participating artists:
Ufan Lee (1936); Isamu Wakabayashi (1936); Susumu Koshimizu (1944); Fujio Akai (1945); Shigeo Toya (1947); Toshihiro Kuno (1948); Kimio Tsuchiya (1955); Hisaya Kojima (1957); Tatsuo Miyajima (1957); Rieko Hidaka (1958); Minako Saitoh (1962); Osamu Kanemura (1964); Tsuyoshi Ozawa (1965); Mariko Mori (1967); Yoshinori Kon (1967); Takahiro Suzuki (1967); Shimabuku (1969); Tabaimo (1975).
With accompanying catalogue (ISBN 90-73313-17-1)