The Kröller-Müller Museum () is a national art museum and sculpture garden, located in the Hoge Veluwe National Park in Otterlo in the Netherlands. The museum, founded by art collector Helene Kröller-Müller within the extensive grounds of her and her husband's former estate (now the national park), opened in 1938. It has the second-largest collection of paintings by Vincent van Gogh, after the Van Gogh Museum. The museum had 283,000 visitors in 2025.
History
The Kröller-Müller Museum was founded by Helene Kröller-Müller, an avid art collector who, being advised by H.P. Bremmer, was one of the first to recognize Vincent van Gogh's genius and collect his works. In 1935, she donated her whole collection to the state of the Netherlands. In 1938, the museum, which was designed by Henry van de Velde, opened to the public. The sculpture garden was added in 1961 and the new exhibition wing, designed by Wim Quist, opened in 1977.
Collection
The museum has a considerable collection of paintings by Vincent van Gogh—such as Café Terrace at Night, and Sorrowing Old Man (At Eternity's Gate)—making it the second-largest collection of Van Gogh paintings in the world (after the Van Gogh Museum in Amsterdam). Apart from the Van Gogh paintings, other highlights include works by Piet Mondrian, Georges-Pierre Seurat, Odilon Redon, Georges Braque, Paul Gauguin, Lucas Cranach, James Ensor, Juan Gris, William Degouve de Nuncques and Pablo Picasso.
Sculpture garden The Kröller-Müller Museum is also famous for its large sculpture garden, within the forest park, of more than and one of the largest in Europe, with a fine collection of modern and contemporary sculptures. The garden reflects Helene Kröller-Müller's conception of a symbiosis between art, architecture and nature.Beukhof, H., Essen, F. van, Pelzers, E., Sevink, J. (2005) Nature and Art, The Hoge Veluwe, Waanders Uitgeverij, Zwolle. The collection includes works by Auguste Rodin, Henry Moore, Jean Dubuffet, Mark di Suvero, Lucio Fontana, Claes Oldenburg and Coosje van Bruggen, Fritz Wotruba, Joep van Lieshout and many more.
Selected collection highlights
Administration Visitors 2012 307,000Top 55 Museumbezoek 2012 (in Dutch), Nederlandse Museumvereniging, 2012. Retrieved 19 August 2013. 2013 330,000Daan van Lent & Pieter van Os, "Musea doen het goed: aantal bezoekers in 2013 fors gestegen" (in Dutch), NRC Handelsblad, 2013. Retrieved 3 August 2014. 2014 392,000"380.000 bezoekers voor Kröller-Müller in 2015. " , De Stentor, 2016. Retrieved 15 January 2016. 2015 380,0002017Apx. 385,0002018Apx. 385,0002019405,4282020173,000+2021127,1262022219,6912023282,926
Lisette Pelsers was the museum director of the Kröller-Müller Museum from 2012 to 2024. She was succeeded by Benno Tempel.Birgit Donker, "Lisette Pelsers nieuwe directeur Kröller-Müller Museum" (in Dutch), NRC Handelsblad, 2011. Retrieved 29 July 2016.
The museum had an increasing number of visitors until the COVID-19 pandemic, when it took a severe plunge due to closures and reduced tourism activities overall. Visitor numbers have largely recovered since, but have yet to reach pre-pandemic levels.
The museum was the 12th most visited museum nationally in 2013.Daan van Lent & Pieter van Os, "Musea doen het goed: aantal bezoekers in 2013 fors gestegen" (in Dutch), NRC Handelsblad, 2013. Retrieved 28 June 2014.
See also List of museums in the Netherlands List of most visited museums in the Netherlands
References
Further reading Kröller-Müller State Museum, Otterlo. Netherlands: Kröller-Müller State Museum, 1973.
External links
Tour of the Kröller-Müller and grounds Kröller-Müller Museum within Google Arts & Culture