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.

On the 1st floor of the Kaiser Wilhelm Museum, Collection in Motion is currently showing works by: Arman, Anni Albers, Francois-Marie Banier, Derick Baegert, Nanni di Bartolo, Marcel Broodthaers, Heinrich Campendonk, Will Cassel, Alan Charlton, Christo, Joseph Cornell, Eric Chevallier, Siegfried Cremer, Katharina Fritsch, Günter Fruhtrunk, Dan Graham, Erich Heckel, Annette Kelm, Ferdinand Kriwet, Max Liebermann, Helmuth Macke, Ludwig Mies van der Rohe, Laszlo Moholy-Nagy, Piet Mondrian, Claude Monet, Heinrich Nauen, Gerhard Richter, Auguste Rodin, Dieter Roth, Stephen Shore, Max Slevogt, Daniel Spoerri, Thomas Struth, Sophie Taeuber-Arp, Axel Vater, Andy Warhol and others.

Note: Joseph Beuys' rooms are currently closed due to conservation.

Until October 6, 2024 the Collection Satellite #9. The Bar. Liora Epstein in Dialogue with Jürgen Drescher and Reinhard Mucha is on view at the Kaiser Wilhelm Museum. 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.