As managing partners of Müller & Co, Anton and Helene are jointly liable for the debts of the company, which continue to rise behind the scenes. They realize that the art collection is at stake. In order to place the collection out of reach of possible creditors, it is transferred to the Kröller-Müller Foundation, which is established on 14 March 1928. The goal of the foundation is ‘The creation and maintenance of a monument, which gives an idea of the spiritual direction of the present time, to the benefit and enjoyment of the community’.

At the expense of Müller & Co, Anton is able to bring his private assets back to their original level. He decides to have Villa Groot Haesebroek demolished. The Kröllers’ home has been in poor condition for several years and Henry van de Velde is commissioned to design a modern villa, which is completed in 1931.

The company subsequently experiences difficulties again. The art purchases are kept to a minimum and even the contract with Bremmer is terminated. When the offices of Müller & Co at Lange Voorhout are also forced to close in 1933, the art collection is transferred to the villa in Wassenaar.

With Müller & Co again on the edge of the abyss, the realization of a ‘monument to culture’ seems far away, but the Kröllers do not give up their dream. They are working on a plan to donate the property of the Kröller-Müller Foundation – the collection and the building designs of Henry van de Velde – to the State in exchange for the construction of the ‘Grand Museum’ designed by Van de Velde in Hoenderloo. The estate is still officially owned by Müller & Co and will have to be purchased by the government. Helene invites the Minister of Education, Art and Science, Henri Marchant, to the Hoge Veluwe, where she shows him around and tells enthusiastically about her plans. Marchant persuades the Council of Ministers to provide a mortgage loan of over 8 hundred thousand guilders for the purchase.

On 26 April 1935, the Kröller-Müller Foundation donates its collection to the Dutch State, which promises to ‘house the collection in a new museum to be built on the Hoge Veluwe’. On the same day, the De Hoge Veluwe National Park Foundation is established, with the aim of ‘acquiring, managing and maintaining a Dutch national park and cultural centre on the Hoge Veluwe’. With a mortgage loan from the State, the estate becomes the property of the Foundation. Sint Hubertus hunting lodge is also sold with the land purchase, but Helene and Anton can live there until their death. However, Marchant’s successor Jan Rudolph Slotemaker de Bruïne does not feel responsible for his predecessor’s legacy. He decides that the State will only contribute 10,000 guilders per year to the operation of the museum. The estate has been saved, but construction of the ‘Grand Museum’ therefore seems out of the question.