From Art Nouveau to ZERO, from Claude Monet to Gerhard Richter – the collection of the Kunstmuseen Krefeld now encompasses circa 24,000 works from the Late Middle Ages to the present day and continues to grow.

The Kunstmuseen Krefeld work continuously with their rich and diverse collection. Presentation and research often go hand in hand. Many thematic as well as monographic exhibitions have specific references to the collection and are enriched from the museum's own holdings. In Collection in Motion on the 1st floor of the Kaiser Wilhelm Museum, part of the collection is on permanent display. Here, 15 themes can be experienced in 15 rooms. Individual rooms are regularly restaged so that the diversity of the collection becomes visible. In the Collection Satellites series, creative minds from various disciplines engage with the museum's collection or history and develope new works.
In addition to the exhibitions and the permanent presentation, there are permanent works and installations by Joseph Beuys, Elmgreen & Dragset, Yves Klein, Johan Thorn Prikker and others in both the Kaiser Wilhelm Museum and Haus Lange Haus Esters. In the garden of Haus Lange Haus Esters there are further sculptural works by Michael Craig-Martin, Ludger Gerdes, Berto Ladera, Richard Long, Claes Oldenburg, David Rabinowitch, Ulrich Rückriem, Thomas Schütte, Richard Serra and Andrea Zittel.

As part of Collection in Motion at the KWM, the Krefeld Art Museums are presenting three new cabinet exhibitions that explore central questions in art. While the exhibition The Memory of Art is dedicated to the themes of memory and the artwork as a monument, Through Time and Space examines these two dimensions and their artistic forms of representation. A third exhibition focuses on the artist Paula Modersohn-Becker and her journey toward abstraction. It’s well worth a visit!

One of the highlights is an exhibition of everyday objects designed by Wilhelm Wagenfeld (1900–1990). Whether it's the famous table lamp he designed while still at the Bauhaus in Weimar or the heat-resistant glass household products he developed with Jenaer Glaswerke: with his designs characterized by functionality and timeless design, Wagenfeld is one of the most important product designers of the 20th century. In connection with a purchase that significantly strengthens the design collection of the Kunstmuseen Krefeld, a room in the Collection in Motion is dedicated to him on the occasion of his 125th birthday.

As of now another room presents a cooperation with the Adolf Luther Foundation. The new presentation Color and transparency focuses on Luther's characteristic concave mirror objects—compositions of square, concave, and convex mirrors in silver and blue that make the light in the room tangible. They are complemented by an early “dematerialization” from 1961: an impasto blue color sculpture in a rotating metal frame that clearly references the monochrome works of Yves Klein. Luther used glass and mirrors to develop the unmistakable signatures of his artistic work. In 1985, together with jewelry designer Susanne Dünne, he also designed a collection consisting of a ring, necklace, brooch, and watch. The elements of his concave mirror objects are incorporated into these pieces of jewelry.

The newly established Kunststiftung an den Kunstmuseen Krefeld has received a generous donation of works by Helmut Dorner. More than 50 pieces from the early career of the renowned painter and sculptor have found their way to Krefeld from a private collection. A selection of works of this convolut is currently on view in a presentation curated by the artist himself in the collection presentation series Collection in Motion at the KWM.

The cabinet exhibition The Artist as Alchemist places the idea of transformation at its core. Since antiquity, alchemy has linked experiment, craft, and spirituality—and continues to inspire art today. Sigmar Polke, Yves Klein, and Joseph Beuys make energy, change, and mental processes visible in their works: Klein strives for immaterial art, Beuys explores the connection between matter and spirit, and Polke investigates colour as a living, reactive substance. The presentation is part of the international project Sigmar Polke. Athanor NOW of the Anna Polke Foundation (running through 2026).

Convolutes of the collection of objects of non-European origin is being presented for the first time. These are primarily arts and crafts from Africa, Oceania and South East and East Asia, which came to the Kaiser Wilhelm Museum between 1891 and 1930 and were intended to serve as inspiration for local artistic and industrial production. The provenance and cultural contexts of the objects were investigated in an extensive project funded by the Deutsches Zentrum Kulturgutverluste. The presentation introduces the objects and tells the story of their provenance.

In 2020, the Kunstmuseen Krefeld launched a new concept for the presentation of its collection that introduces the extensive holdings in a dynamic, varied way and with diverse themes. Under the title Collection in Motion, 15 stories line up like a string of pearls in the 15 rooms on the second floor of the Kaiser Wilhelm Museum. Again and again, a new room emerges, and sculptures, paintings, photography and design objects come together to form other surprising stories. Other rooms are thematically dedicated to, among others, Herbert Zangs, Street Photography and Pop Art.

On the 1st floor of the Kaiser Wilhelm Museum, Collection in Motion is currently showing works by: Anni Albers, Alan Charlton, Liora Epstein, Katharina Fritsch, Anton Henning, Bethan Huws, Paul Klee, Yves Klein, Adolf Luther, M/M Paris, Paula Modersohn-Becker, Laszlo Moholy-Nagy, Piet Mondrian, Linda Müller, Gerhard Richter, Silke Schatz, Wilhelm Wagenfeld, Jeff Wall, Andy Warhol and others.

Since 2018, the art museums have been inviting artists from various disciplines to engage with the collection, museum history and architecture of the three buildings - Kaiser Wilhelm Museum, Haus Lange, Haus Esters - and to explore them in new ways with the Collection Satellite project series.

The collection of the Kunstmuseen Krefeld is continuously studied and questioned based on ever-new perspectives by the museum’s staff as well as external scholars.

The objective of conservation work is the care of the precious items in the collection and their preservation of behalf of future generations.