Collection

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.

highlights

Since its beginnings around 1900, contemporary art and design currents have always encountered each other afresh from differing perspectives in the Kunstmuseen Krefeld.

The historical heart of the collection is formed by the holdings of objects related to the Reform Movement and Art Nouveau, which brought art and everyday design closer together. Some of the exceptional highlights are the Werkbund collection founded by Karl Ernst Osthaus 1909, the German Museum for Art in Commerce and Industry in addition to numerous works by Peter Behrens, Henry van de Velde and Johan Thorn Prikker.

Examples of classic modern art are included with such important individual works as The Houses of Parliament in London (1904) by Claude Monet and Deluge (1912) by Vasily Kandinsky. Special focus is placed on the extensive groups of works by the Rhenish Expressionists and Constructivist artists like Piet Mondrian.

The composition of the collection after 1945 is closely linked to the progressive exhibition program of contemporary art that brought the relevant artistic movements of the post-war era to Krefeld, at first in Haus Lange since the early 1960s and from 1981 in Haus Esters as well. Alongside major collections of works by Yves Klein and Joseph Beuys, the collection juxtaposes central protagonists from the Rhenish art scene—from Gerhard Richter and Sigmar Polke to Katharina Fritsch, Thomas Schütte and Andreas Gursky—with international pioneers of contemporary art like Andy Warhol, Richard Serra, Jeff Wall, Kiki Smith, Allora & Calzadilla and Elmgreen & Dragset.

Wassily Kandinsky, Deluge I, 1912, Photo: Volker Döhne
Wassily Kandinsky, Deluge I, 1912, Photo: Volker Döhne
Andreas Gursky, Mülheim an der Ruhr, 1989, © VG Bild-Kunst, Bonn 2019
Andreas Gursky, Mülheim an der Ruhr, 1989, © VG Bild-Kunst, Bonn 2019
Josef Hoffmann, Carafe and Drinking Glasses out of the Series Var. B, around 1911, Photo: Volker Döhne
Josef Hoffmann, Carafe and Drinking Glasses out of the Series Var. B, around 1911, Photo: Volker Döhne
Claude Monet, Houses of Parliament in London, 1904, Photo: Volker Döhne
Claude Monet, Houses of Parliament in London, 1904, Photo: Volker Döhne
Yves Klein, Lecteur I.K.B. élégant, 1959, © VG Bild-Kunst, Bonn 2019, Photo: Volker Döhne
Yves Klein, Lecteur I.K.B. élégant, 1959, © VG Bild-Kunst, Bonn 2019, Photo: Volker Döhne
Peter Behrens, Allgemeine Elektricitäts Gesellschaft/A.E.G., 1907, Photo: Volker Döhne
Peter Behrens, Allgemeine Elektricitäts Gesellschaft/A.E.G., 1907, Photo: Volker Döhne

Currently on View

On the first floor of the Kaiser Wilhelm Museum the new permanent collection presentation Collection in Motion shows works by Nanni di Bartolo, Peter Behrens, Volker Döhne, Heinrich Campendonk, Max Ernst, Peter Ghyzhy, Andreas Gursky, Hans Haacke, Erich Heckel, Candida Höfer, Yves Klein, Alfred Mohrbutter, Claude Monet, Heinrich Nauen, Helmut Macke, Thomas Ruff, Karl Schmidt-Rottluff, Moritz von Schwind, Jacopo Sansovino, Carl Spitzweg, Thomas Struth, Jean Tinguely and others.

On the second floor works by Anni and Josef Albers, Banz and Bowinkel, Frank Bragigand, Brian Eno, Heinz Mack, François Morellet, Gerhard Richter, Robert Rotar, Dieter Roth, Reiner Ruthenbeck, Jesus Rafael Soto, Günther Uecker, Ignacio Uriarte, Victor Vasarely as well as a selection from the Edition MAT are on display.

Research

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.

Conservation

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