Timeline
Discover the museum's history
The Timeline charts the history of the Kröller-Müller Museum and its collection. Meet founder Helene Kröller-Müller and her successors; directors Sam van Deventer, Bram Hammacher, Rudi Oxenaar, Evert van Straaten and all the artists and architects they worked with.
“Nice also to be able to wander through the museum's history over such a long period now.”
“The Timeline is an important document for anyone who wants to know more about the museum. It is also a living document, it can be replenished at any time and is therefore a tool for reflecting on one's own history.”
“The Timeline provides insight into what has already taken place in the Kröller-Müller Museum. This allows the audience to make connections between the present, past and future. If you surrender to that “game” a museum visit will become even more exciting.”
Discover treasures from our archive
In the Timeline you can read why Helene Kröller-Müller wanted to establish a museum and where her art collection was housed during the Second World War. We tell about the origins of the sculpture garden and how important purchases and exhibitions came about.
In short: the Timeline gives you a look behind the scenes of the museum and shares treasures from our archives. Such as a handwritten letter from Helene, photos from the exhibition Heart of Darkness, construction and interior drawings of Jachthuis St. Hubertus by design of H.P. Berlage and the model and working drawing of Floating Sculpture ‘Otterlo’ (swan) by Marta Pan.
From 1869 to 2012
The Timeline starts on 11 February 1869, the birthday of founder Helene Müller, and runs up to 31 March 2012 for now, the farewell of former director Evert van Straaten. With this lays the foundation of the Timeline, but there is still much more to tell! Thanks to ongoing research, the museum continues to share new stories about the museum's history and collection.
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New online: Sonderbund-exhibition
In 1912, Helene and Anton travelled to Germany with art advisor H.P. Bremmer and visited the Sonderbund exhibition in Cologne. The exhibition featured an overview of early modern art, including as many as five rooms with works by Vincent van Gogh. This is partly thanks to Anton and Helene lending some of their Van Gogh collection. But of course they also purchased artworks!