Kröller-Müller Museum

Kröller-Müller Museum
	Entrance of the museum in 2008
	Interactive fullscreen map
Established	13 July 1938
Location	Houtkampweg 6; Otterlo, Netherlands
Coordinates	52°5′45″N 5°49′1″E / 52.09583°N 5.81694°E
Type	Art museum; National museum
Visitors	275,000 (2023)
Director	Lisette Pelsers
Website	krollermuller.nl

The Kröller-Müller Museum (Dutch pronunciation: [ˈkrʏlər ˈmʏlər myˌzeːjʏm]) is a national art museum and sculpture garden, located in the Hoge Veluwe National Park in Otterlo in the Netherlands. The museum, founded by art collector Helene Kröller-Müller within the extensive grounds of her and her husband's former estate (now the national park), opened in 1938. It has the second-largest collection of paintings by Vincent van Gogh, after the Van Gogh Museum. The museum had 380,000 visitors in 2015.

History

The Kröller-Müller Museum was founded by Helene Kröller-Müller, an avid art collector who, being advised by H.P. Bremmer, was one of the first to recognize Vincent van Gogh's genius and collect his works. In 1935, she donated her whole collection to the state of the Netherlands. In 1938, the museum, which was designed by Henry van de Velde, opened to the public. The sculpture garden was added in 1961 and the new exhibition wing, designed by Wim Quist, opened in 1977.^[2]

Collection

The museum has a considerable collection of paintings by Vincent van Gogh, such as Café Terrace at Night, and Sorrowing Old Man (At Eternity's Gate). Making it the second-largest collection of Van Gogh paintings in the world (after the Van Gogh Museum in Amsterdam). Apart from the Van Gogh paintings other highlights include works by Piet Mondrian, Georges-Pierre Seurat, Odilon Redon, Georges Braque, Paul Gauguin, Lucas Cranach, James Ensor, Juan Gris, William Degouve de Nuncques and Pablo Picasso.

Sculpture garden

The Kröller-Müller Museum is also famous for its large sculpture garden, within the forest park, of more than 75 acres (30 ha) and one of the largest in Europe, with a fine collection of modern and contemporary sculptures. The garden reflects Helene Kröller-Müller's conception of a symbiosis between art, architecture and nature.^[5] The collection includes works by Auguste Rodin, Henry Moore, Jean Dubuffet, Mark di Suvero, Lucio Fontana, Claes Oldenburg and Coosje van Bruggen, Fritz Wotruba, Joep van Lieshout and many more.

Selected collection highlights

Paul Signac, Breakfast, 1886–87
Henri-Edmond Cross, Fisherman, 1895
Jean Metzinger, Coucher de soleil no. 1 (Landscape), 1906
Fernand Léger, Nudes in the forest (Nus dans la forêt), 1910
Georges Braque, Guitare et verre (Guitar and Glass), 1917
Henry Moore, Sculpture with hole and light, 1967
Richard Serra, One, 1988

Vincent van Gogh, Café Terrace at Night, 1888^[7]
Vincent van Gogh, Country Road in Provence by Night, 1890
Georges Seurat, Le Chahut (Can Can), 1889–90
Jean Metzinger, La danse (Bacchante), c. 1906
Odilon Redon, The Cyclops, c. 1914
Juan Gris, Le Compotier (The Fruit Bowl), 1914
Pablo Picasso, Violon (Violin), 1911–12
Joseph Csaky, Deux figures, 1920
Joseph Csaky, Tête (Head), 1920

Administration

	Visitors
2012	307,000^[8]
2013	330,000^[9]
2014	392,000^[10]
2015	380,000^[10]
2017	Apx. 385,000^[11]
2018	Apx. 385,000^[11]
2019	405,428^[11]
2020	173,000+^[11]
2021	127,126^[12]
2022	219,691^[13]
2023	282,926^[13]

Lisette Pelsers was the museum director of the Kröller-Müller Museum from 2012 to 2024. She was succeeded by Benno Tempel.^[4]^[14]

The museum had an increasing number of visitors until the COVID-19 pandemic, when it took a severe plunge due to closures and reduced tourism activities overall. Visitor numbers have largely recovered since, but have yet to reach pre-pandemic levels.^[15]

The museum was the 12th most visited museum nationally in 2013.^[16]

References

^ Address/directions, Kröller-Müller Museum. Retrieved 27 September 2013.
^ ^a ^b Johannes van der Wolk, "Helene Emma Laura Juliane Kröller-Müller" (in Dutch), Biografisch Woordenboek Gelderland, 1998. Retrieved 27 September 2013.
^ "Bezoekcijfers 2023: 275.000 bezoekers, ruim 560.000 bezoekers in het buitenland". krollermuller.nl. Kröller-Müller Museum. Retrieved 3 September 2024.
^ ^a ^b Structure. Archived 2 October 2013 at the Wayback Machine, Kröller-Müller Museum. Retrieved 27 September 2013.
^ Beukhof, H., Essen, F. van, Pelzers, E., Sevink, J. (2005) Nature and Art, The Hoge Veluwe, Waanders Uitgeverij, Zwolle.
^ The potato eaters Archived 4 April 2013 at the Wayback Machine, Kröller-Müller Museum. Retrieved 24 August 2013.
^ Terrace of a café at night (Place du Forum) Archived 27 August 2012 at the Wayback Machine, Kröller-Müller Museum. Retrieved 23 August 2013.
^ Top 55 Museumbezoek 2012^{[permanent dead link‍]} (in Dutch), Nederlandse Museumvereniging, 2012. Retrieved 19 August 2013.
^ Daan van Lent & Pieter van Os, "Musea doen het goed: aantal bezoekers in 2013 fors gestegen" (in Dutch), NRC Handelsblad, 2013. Retrieved 3 August 2014.
^ ^a ^b "380.000 bezoekers voor Kröller-Müller in 2015. Archived 4 March 2016 at the Wayback Machine" (in Dutch), De Stentor, 2016. Retrieved 15 January 2016.
^ ^a ^b ^c ^d "Visitor figures Kröller-Müller Museum 2020". krollermuller.nl. 15 December 2020. Retrieved 17 August 2023.
^ "Annual review 2022 (Dutch only)" (PDF). krollermuller.nl (in Dutch). 28 March 2023. p. 3. Retrieved 29 July 2024. Nadat het museum op 26 januari weer openging voor publiek werden 219.000 werkelijke aantal bezoekers ontvangen, 65% meer dan in 2021, toen het museum 127.126 bezoekers telde. [After the museum reopened to the public on January 26, 219,000 actual visitors were received, 65% more than in 2021, when the museum had 127,126 visitors.]
^ ^a ^b "Annual review 2023 (Dutch only)" (PDF). krollermuller.nl (in Dutch). 28 March 2024. p. 3. Retrieved 29 July 2024. De bezoekersaantallen bleven een stijgende lijn vertonen en namen toe van 219.691 in 2022 naar 282.926. [Visitor numbers continued to show an upward trend and increased from 219,691 in 2022 to 282,926.]
^ Birgit Donker, "Lisette Pelsers nieuwe directeur Kröller-Müller Museum" (in Dutch), NRC Handelsblad, 2011. Retrieved 29 July 2016.
^ "Annual review 2023 (Dutch only)" (PDF). krollermuller.nl (in Dutch). 28 March 2024. p. 3. Retrieved 29 July 2024. Na het officiële einde van de coronapandemie op 23 februari was 2023 voor het Kröller-Müller Museum een bijzonder actief jaar. De bezoekersaantallen bleven een stijgende lijn vertonen en namen toe van 219.691 in 2022 naar 282.926. Dat is een mooi resultaat, maar de aantallen zijn nog niet op het niveau van voor de pandemie. Eindelijk konden twee grote tentoonstellingsprojecten doorgang vinden waaraan jaren was gewerkt en die vanwege corona moesten worden uitgesteld. [After the official end of the corona pandemic on February 23, 2023 was a particularly active year for the Kröller-Müller Museum. Visitor numbers continued to show an upward trend and increased from 219,691 in 2022 to 282,926. That is a good result, but the numbers are not yet at pre-pandemic levels.]
^ Daan van Lent & Pieter van Os, "Musea doen het goed: aantal bezoekers in 2013 fors gestegen" (in Dutch), NRC Handelsblad, 2013. Retrieved 28 June 2014.