• A tribute to two generous collectors -BLOG- Piet Sanders died on 27 September, just a few days after his 100th birthday. He and his wife Ida were passionate collectors and generous donors. They donated a considerable part of their art collection to Dutch museums and thus ensured that the artworks remained in the public domain in the Netherlands.
  • Cuddly monkeys -BLOG- These two stoneware monkeys are from the collection of Helene Kröller-Müller. She acquired quite a few of these small sculptures, from Joseph Mendes da Costa, the maker of this piece, but also from other sculptors of her time.
  • Clown -BLOG- Many visitors have already had the opportunity to see for themselves that the monumental painting Le Cirque from Musée d’Orsay is one of the highlights of the Georges Seurat exhibition. For their part, Musée d’Orsay are equally delighted with the painting that went to Paris in exchange for Le Cirque: Le clown musical from 1868 by Auguste Renoir.
  • Sufficient Force -BLOG- In the exhibition Sufficient Force, the Kröller-Müller Museum shows American art from the 1960s. An era that has since become legendary. The refrigerator, washing machine, television and car make their debut in the household and in the streetscape. The space race between the United States and the Soviet Union culminates in the first moon landing. The skirts become shorter, the hair longer and women emancipate themselves in a pantsuit and with the pill in their pockets.
  • The Seurats of Helene Kröller-Müller -BLOG- In April 1912 Helene Kröller-Müller travels to Paris to meet her husband Anton, who is there on business. It proves to be a momentous visit. In just a few days, under the guidance of her advisor H.P. Bremmer, Helene acquires not only fifteen works by Van Gogh and a harbour view by Paul Signac, but also her first Seurat: a view of the pier in the coastal town of Honfleur in Northern France.
  • Kröller-Müller on tour -BLOG- On 3 October at six o’clock sharp, more than eight hundred Japanese visitors jostled to catch a glimpse of the Van Goghs, the Seurats and the Mondriaans from the Kröller-Müller Museum. Not in Otterlo itself, but at the National Art Centre in Tokyo, where the exhibition Divisionism. From Van Gogh and Seurat to Mondrian had just opened.
  • A colourless figure -BLOG- Mid-August Adriaan van Ravesteijn, the former owner of the Art & Project art gallery, donated more than 200 artworks to the Kröller-Müller Museum. The artworks which are mostly large sculptures belong to the Art & Project / Depot VBVR collection.
  • Surprises at a presentation of masterpieces -BLOG- On the occasion of its seventy-fifth anniversary, the Kröller-Müller Museum has announced its own Top 75. The selected masterpieces are on display throughout the entire museum and in the sculpture garden, partly as a component of the permanent display, partly in a special jubilee presentation.
  • Icons -BLOG- The Kröller-Müller has many icons, flagships of the collection. They are highpoints in art history and perennial favourites with the public.
  • Vincent -BLOG- Surveys of the public have always indicated that over 80% of the Kröller-Müller Museum’s visitors come for the permanent collection. It is, of course, common knowledge that the works by Vincent van Gogh in particular have a magnetic appeal. But I experienced this in person recently, when, very briefly, there were no Van Goghs on display during the reinstallation of the museum: angry, but above all disappointed visitors, some even in tears.
  • Summer at Lake Como? -BLOG- William Degouve de Nunques painted Lake Como at twilight while on his honeymoon, which he could afford to stretch out over several years. But whether that’s apparent by looking at it is questionable. It is certainly the case that the period after his marriage to artist Juliette Massin was highly productive.
  • A ‘new’ Medardo Rosso -BLOG- During my study of art history, I already had a great fondness for the work of Italian sculptor Medardo Rosso (Turin 1858-1928 Milan). Rosso was highly significant in the sculptural art of the twentieth century. He was a source of inspiration for Constantin Brancusi and the Italian futurists, but is far less well-known among the wider public than, for instance, his contemporary Auguste Rodin.
  • On an owl and a cat -BLOG- In a conspicuous spot in the exhibition Expose (part of Longing for perfection) at the Kröller-Müller Museum stands a little owl: the Petite chouette by Pablo Picasso. Expose was compiled by the public, who were invited to choose their own top three from a collection of small sculptures acquired by my predecessor Evert van Straaten over the past 21 years. The Chouette finished in first place with a sizable majority.
  • It’s busy behind the scenes
  • The candy pink of Vincent van Gogh -BLOG- Phone covers, teacups, bedding, Christmas baubles; you name it and it’s available with a painting by Vincent van Gogh on it. The enormous popularity that Van Gogh still enjoys 125 years after his death is largely due to the myth that he died penniless, mad as a hatter and above all completely unknown in 1890.
  • An art collection as due payment -BLOG- Since his death in 1941, Anton Kröller has been overshadowed by his art-loving wife Helene Kröller-Müller. Before that, he was known as an important Dutch iron ore and grain merchant, and government advisor in the First World War, but also for causing a big investment scandal. Anton’s role in building up the art collection now appears greater than was previously thought.
  • Art makes the (wo)man -BLOG- ‘You’ve done that beautifully, girl!’ says an enthusiastic participant while tapping the woman beside her on the shoulder. The woman looks around her bashfully. The others at the table are still busy drawing. ‘Could you pass me the green crayon?’ Oh my, that really looks a bit like Van Gogh!’
  • Kröller-Müller wins Museum Education Award The Kröller-Müller Museum has won the new Dutch Museum Education Award of 50,000 euro, with the digital block calendar ‘Every day art’. The award was presented on Wednesday 14 October. 'Every day art' is an innovative application for the interactive whiteboard, developed within the supportership of the Municipality of Ede, in collaboration with local primary schools.
  • Signal red, back to the original colour of K-piece -BLOG- As conservators of modern art and sculpture, we encounter artworks in various materials and sizes. In the past few months we have been preparing for the conservation of K-piece, a huge outdoor sculpture made by American artist Mark di Suvero in 1972. The conservation work will be carried out in the months October and November.
  • A Modern World: The Sculptor, The Landscape, The Architect -BLOG- I recently visited two locations, both of which are significant in understanding Barbara Hepworth’s approach as one of Britain’s most important Modernist artists, and both of which feature in the exhibition Barbara Hepworth: Sculpture for a Modern World.
  • Kröller-Müller Museum in the second edition of the DWDD pop-up museum Guest curator Carice van Houten has chosen the Kröller-Müller Museum!
  • Acquisition exceptional work by Giacomo Balla presented The Kröller-Müller Museum was recently able to acquire Paravento con linea di velocità (Screen with speedline), (1916-1917), oil on four canvases in frames painted by the artist (151 x 126 cm) by Giacomo Balla (1871-1957), with support from the BankGiro Lottery and the Rembrandt Association, thanks in part to its Maljers-de Jongh Fund. Paravento con linea di velocità was purchased at Sotheby’s New York for the sum of € 971,000.
  • Carice van Houten makes Kröller-Müller exhibition for DWDD Pop-Up Museum The Kröller-Müller Museum is honoured with its inclusion in the second edition of DWDD Pop-up Museum, organized by the TV show De Wereld Draait Door (The World Keeps Turning). As guest curator, actress Carice van Houten made a selection from the collection in the museum’s depot. The opening will take place on 28 January at the Allard Pierson Museum in Amsterdam.
  • Museum receives almost € 1.1 million from BankGiro Lottery At the BankGiro Lottery’s annual Goed Geld Gala (charity funds gala) on 3 February, the Kröller-Müller Museum, the Rijksmuseum, Mauritshuis and Van Gogh Museum received a total of € 7,150,746. For the Kröller-Müller Museum that means a sum of almost € 1.1 million for the acquisition of new works. In addition, the museum has received a cheque for € 23,859 earmarked for acquisitions.
  • Balla Paravento -BLOG- The futurist artist Giacomo Balla is no stranger to the Kröller-Müller. Two paintings were already on permanent display here. These are now complemented by a painted screen: a ‘shaped canvas’ that still looks extremely modern after a hundred years.
  • a piece of K -BLOG- In our previous blog, you witnessed the intensive and successful search for the correct colour for the conservation of K-piece by artist Mark di Suvero. On 19 October 2015, the conservation work began when the work was disassembled and taken to the paint-shop in sections. By now, the sculpture already stands gleaming again in our front garden. Below, we take you through the conservation work step by step.
  • Launch digital picture book Zwaan zoekt een vriendje On 15 April, Bereslim together with the Kröller-Müller Museum will launch a digital version of the picture book Zwaan zoekt een vriendje (Swan looks for a playmate). Frank Groothof voiced the text, which is in Dutch only. Schools and parents can view the book as an animation on the museum’s website and on the platform of Bereslim. The educational packet Bereslim also contains an interactive version for Dutch libraries, day-care centres and playgroups.
  • Record number of visitors during Barbara Hepworth exhibition The exhibition Barbara Hepworth: Sculpture for a Modern World closed last Sunday with a record number of 113,275 visitors. Since 1958 (when the museum began keeping exact records of visitor figures) the number of visitors during this period has never been higher.
  • Acquisition drawings Oleksandr Bohomazov The Kröller-Müller Museum has purchased two futurist drawings by the Ukrainian painter and theorist Oleksandr Bohomazov (Jampol 1880-Kyiv 1930).
  • How the silver trowel became blue -BLOG- Did you know that the blue sculpture in the shape of a trowel, which stands at the T-junction to the museum, originally wasn’t blue at all?