Collection in Motion

Wilhelm Wagenfeld, Helmut Dorner and more

Tue, Jun 3, 2025–Wed, Apr 1, 2026

Kaiser Wilhelm Museum

Design, painting, non-European arts and crafts and much more: in 2025, visitors can still expect their own small cabinet exhibitions in each new room in Collection on the Move.

Wilhelm Wagenfeld
One of the highlights of the year is a presentation of everyday objects by designer Wilhelm Wagenfeld (1900-1990). Whether the famous table lamp that he designed during his time at the Bauhaus in Weimar or the household products made of heat-resistant glass that he developed with the 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 conjunction with an acquisition that significantly strengthens the design collection of the Kunstmuseen Krefeld, a room in Collection in Motion is dedicated to him on the occasion of his 125th birthday.


Helmut Dorner
Another room shows the extensive donation of around 50 paintings, works on paper and photographs by the renowned artist Helmut Dorner (*1952, lives and works in Karlsruhe). The collection, which recently came to the Kunstmuseen Krefeld and ideally complements the museum's own collection of works by the artist, focuses primarily on Dorner's early work. The cabinet exhibition offers an impressive insight into the development of the artist, who was one of the most important representatives of abstract painting in Germany in the 1980s.


Non-European objects
The collection of objects of non-European origin is also on display. 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 German Lost Art Foundation. The presentation introduces the objects and tells the story of their origins.

With Collection in Motion, the Kunstmuseen Krefeld are permanently occupying the second floor of the Kaiser Wilhelm Museum with 15 changing, themed exhibition rooms. Whether Pop Art or major works of Rhenish Expressionism, paintings from the Renaissance period or individual artists' interiors, applied art and design or the artistic examination of everyday phenomena - the multifaceted collection is presented here from ever-changing perspectives.