From Art Nouveau to ZERO, from Claude Monet to Gerhard Richter – the collection of the Kunstmuseen Krefeld now encompasses circa 18,000 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.

On the 1st floor of the Kaiser Wilhelm Museum, Collection in Motion is currently showing works by: Nanni di Bartolo, Marion Baruch, Heinrich Campendonck, Will Cassel, Lovis Corinth, Siegfried Cremer, Thierry De Cordier, Dan Graham, Erich Heckel, Käthe Kollwitz, Helmut Macke, Gerhard Richter, Auguste Rodin, Andy Warhol, John Wesley and others. On the 2nd floor of the Kaiser Wilhelm Museum, from November 24, 2023 to April 28, 2024, the collection The German Museum of Art in Commerce and Industry will be the subject of the exhibition The Grand Seduction. Karl Ernst Osthaus and the Beginnings of Consumer Culture.

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.