On 1 July 1947, Bram Hammacher is appointed curator and acting director of the Rijksmuseum Kröller-Müller. Hammacher is very familiar with the collection. During and after his study of art history, he wrote as an art critic for various newspapers and magazines. Helene Kröller-Müller valued his often-harsh opinion. She saved the clippings of his reviews and even wanted to hire him as ‘in-house critic’. Hammacher, however, refused her offer. He was not impressed by Helene’s art-historical vision, as she described it in her book Considerations. Nevertheless, he did visit the Museum Kröller at the Lange Voorhout in The Hague on several occasions. Later he writes: ‘With the map in my hand, and always alone, I wandered around there several times as a novice art historian. […] It is there […] that I first experienced de toute-puissance impressions of a late 19^th and early 20^th century art that gradually but overwhelmingly and irreversibly absorbed my existence. […] Where else could one enjoy a Redon room, with nothing but Redon […]. There, one could become imbued with a painter and never forget him’.

In the years that follow, Hammacher writes about many artists represented in the museum’s collection, and also gets to know some of them personally, such as Charley Toorop, John Rädecker, Hildo Krop, Dirk Nijland and Joseph Csáky. In the first weeks after his appointment, Hammacher travels from Otterlo to the museum on foot. The area fascinates him. He writes to Hendrik Chabot: ‘And so here in that almighty silence and solitude. I am actually becoming absorbed into it, though I initially thought that I could not bear to’.

When Hammacher becomes director of the Rijksmuseum Kröller-Müller on 1 October 1948, he is confronted with Helene’s rather strictly formulated body of thought. In the founding charter she has included guidelines to protect the character of the collection and to maintain her philosophy. For example, the collection can only be expanded with work by artists who are already included in it. With a few exceptions, she considers the collection complete at the end of her life.

However, the ambitious Hammacher manages to cleverly circumvent these restrictions. He interprets the founding charter as a description of the painting collection, because sculpture is not even mentioned. Hammacher is deeply interested in sculpture and sees opportunities for a new direction and new acquisitions. In the same way that Helene wanted to show a representative overview of the development of modern painting in her collection, he seeks to present the development of modern sculpture, preferably at an international level.

At that time, the Kröller-Müller collection already includes a fine sub-collection of sculpture with work by Mendes da Costa, Rädecker, Maillol, Lehmbruck, Rosso and Csáky, among others. In his first year as director, Hammacher gives precisely these works a prominent place in the museum. Wilhelm Lehmbruck’s sculpture Standing female figure, which was acquired in 1912 and has stood by the entrance since the opening, adorns the cover of the new museum catalogue.

In 1947 his acquisitions are limited to works by Dutch sculptors, such as Indonesian buffalo by Saar de Swart and Alphons Diepenbrock by Mari Andriessen. In 1948 Hammacher sees the opportunity to acquire two sculptures by the French-Russian sculptor Ossip Zadkine. However, he must first persuade the Advisory Committee. The Committee member Bremmer is of the opinion that the museum has ‘no need’ for Zadkine. But after visiting the Zadkine exhibition at the Stedelijk Museum in Amsterdam, the Committee ‘unanimously feels that the selected works represent an enrichment of the collection’. For 5,300 guilders Hammacher is able to purchase the two sculptures: Torso (Clementius) and Seated woman.

The introduction of Zadkine in the collection is an important step for Hammacher. Zadkine writes that he is pleased that his sculptures have found their way into the renowned Kröller-Müller Museum. Hammacher acquires the sculptures with a plan in mind for the completion of the sculpture gallery by architect Henry van de Velde, the construction of which was halted during the war.

Hammacher also wants to modernise the interior of the museum. The current interior is very similar to that of the former Museum Kröller in The Hague, with furniture by Berlage and Van de Velde, carpets and wall cabinets full of porcelain and earthenware. Moreover, the paintings are hung very close together, because Helene wanted her entire collection to be on display permanently. The new director wants the collection to be fully appreciated and to drastically reduce the number of artworks on display. But Bremmer, who watches over Helene’s vision and interior design like a hawk, intervenes. Indeed, he wants as much work as possible to be shown: ‘If necessary by hanging the paintings in four rows above each other. A painting is enclosed by a frame and the emotion that the work of art reveals is thereby self-contained’. Hammacher has great respect for Bremmer but finds his views on art dated. He seeks support from the other members of the Advisory Committee and slowly but surely manages to modernize the outdated arrangement and the busy, ‘aristocratic’ interior.

He composes ‘characteristic ensembles’ of artworks, classified by movement and genre, and arranges the display rooms so that visitors can view the collection in chronological order. The Van Goghcollection remains in the courtyard, the centre of the museum. He does add a group of 19^th and 20^th century Sculpture. The old Chinese and Japanese art is still on display in the museum, but gradually more and more furniture, carpets, porcelain and earthenware are moved to the depot.