Architecture
Have you ever wondered about the history of our museum buildings? Here you’ll find a clear overview of the key concepts, buildings and architects. And how new buildings and extensions have been added over time. From Helene Kröller-Müller’s initial plans to the museum and sculpture garden of the future. Discover how art, nature and architecture have intertwined here for over a century.
Helene Kröller-Müller’s life’s work
The Kröller-Müller Museum is the life’s work of Helene Kröller-Müller. Between 1907 and 1922, together with her husband Anton Kröller, she acquires nearly 11,500 works of art. It is one of the largest private collections of the twentieth century. Helene dreams of a ‘museum house’, a place where she can share her love of art with everyone. Her dream becomes a reality in 1938 with the opening of the Kröller-Müller Museum. Subsequent museum directors expand the museum with new buildings and a large sculpture garden.
'Museum Kröller' at Lange Voorhout
Helene’s first museum in The Hague
From the start of 1913, Helene already exhibits her art collection on the Lange Voorhout in The Hague. The collection could be viewed by appointment. Initially, the intended location for her dream ‘museum house’ is the Ellenwoude estate in Wassenaar near The Hague. She and and her husband Anton Kröller purchase this estate in 1911. The Kröllers work with the architects Peter Behrens and Ludwig Mies (who later goes by the name Mies van der Rohe), but ultimately Helene chooses Berlage, on the advice of H.P. Bremmer.
Read more about Helene’s 'museum house' in The Hague and Museum Kröller
H.P. Berlage, Design for the Museum on the Franse Berg, 1918
Berlage and Van de Velde on the Veluwe
Helene decides that she would rather have her museum built on the Veluwe, in the heart of nature. It has to be grand. In 1918 Berlage presents his sketches for a gigantic building with living and exhibition spaces. When the relationship between Helene and Berlage becomes increasingly difficult, the design is abandoned. Berlage's successor is the Belgian architect Henry van de Velde. The plans he presents in the autumn of 1920, also for a huge museum, are enthusiastically received. Construction begins in 1921. After only six months, however, Müller & Co experiences financial difficulties and the construction work is halted.
Henry Van de Velde’s ‘transitional museum’
To safeguard the art collection, it is placed in a foundation in 1928 and then donated to the Dutch State in 1935. Henry van de Velde is asked to design a much more modest museum, which opens its doors in 1938 to great national and international attention. Helene, who still dreams of her ‘grand museum’, stubbornly refers to it as the ‘transitional museum’. Still, the museum is as she had wanted. With small, intimate spaces and soft light from above. A ‘museum house’ as she calls it, where visitors can get close to the artworks. The building is made of brick and almost completely closed, to provide as much wall space as possible for the many paintings.
The 'the transitional museum' by Henry van de Velde
Henry van de Velde’s extension with a sculpture gallery
After Helene's death in 1939 and after the end of the Second World War, Bram Hammacher becomes the new director of the Kröller-Müller. He brings sculpture to the museum as a counterpart to Helene's collection of paintings. The museum is expanded with a sculpture gallery and an auditorium, also designed by Van de Velde. It contrasts with the closed character of the rest of the building. The sculpture gallery has glass walls, offering a clear view of the surrounding woodland.
Sculpture gallery, 1953
Opening of the sculpture garden, 3 June 1961
Opening of the sculpture garden
Following the construction of the sculpture gallery, plans are made for a sculpture garden. In collaboration with Hammacher, garden and landscape architect Jan Bijhouwer develops a labyrinthine sculpture garden, designed for wandering. Here, nature and sculpture are equally important. That was a completely new idea at the time. The sculpture garden opens in 1961 with works by Auguste Rodin, Marta Pan and Henry Moore, among others. From that moment on, the Kröller-Müller Museum has been one of the most important international museums for modern sculpture.
Pavilions in the sculpture garden
In May 1964 Gerrit Rietveld visits the sculpture garden to find a location for a pavilion. He designed it in 1955 for the Internationale tentoonstelling in de openlucht SONSBEEK 55 . Rietveld expresses the wish that 'the pavilion should be completely reconstructed in its original form'. A month later he dies, but his pavilion is rebuilt in the sculpture garden. It gains worldwide renown under the name Rietveld Pavilion. In 2005–2006, a pavilion designed by architect Aldo van Eyck is also rebuilt in the sculpture garden. He had designed it for the 5e Internationale beeldententoonstelling Sonsbeek ’66 .
More info about the reconstruction of the Rietveld Pavilion and the Aldo van Eyck Pavilion
Gerrit Rietveld, Rietveld Pavilion, 1954-1955 (rebuilt in 1964-1965 and 2010)
Extension by Wim Quist
In the 1970s the museum is expanded with a new wing by Dutch architect Wim Quist. He designs a transparent building with maximum interaction between inside and outside. The extension is situated between the sculpture garden and the Van de Velde museum. The building is characterised by its long, austere lines. Corridors with glass walls lead into spacious exhibition halls. The extension accommodates major acquisitions in the fields of Minimal art, Conceptual art, Land art and Arte Povera. Quist has harmoniously blended his own building with that of Henry van de Velde.
A museum of today
Helene’s ideal was a museum of the finest international art in the heart of nature. Subsequent directors each give their own interpretation to this ideal. In this way, the museum evolves with the times. Art, nature and architecture converge here. This makes the museum unique in the Netherlands and exceptional in the world. And it remains an inspiration to this day.
The future: space for the Kröller-Müller collection
In 2018, the Kröller-Müller Museum began exploring the possibilities for extension with Japanese architect Tadao Ando. This is not an end in itself. It is a necessary condition to raise the quality of the visitors’ experience and bring all the facilities in the museum up to the desired level. One of the main components of the extension is a new, eye-catching entrance with the allure and facilities befitting an international art museum. This provides more space for the presentation of the collection and temporary exhibitions. There will also be new, well-equipped and hospitable public amenities, such as a restaurant and a shop.
More about the museum
