Van Abbemuseum

The Van Abbemusum is the only museum in the Netherlands to concentrate exclusively on modern and contemporary art from the 20th and 21st centuries. Since it opened in 1936, the museum has built up an impressive collection of over 2,700 works of art. The Van Abbemuseum has the largest El Lissitzky collection outside Russia, a collection which forms a continual source of inspiration for new exhibitions. The museum also possesses masterpieces by renowned artists such as Picasso, Chagall, Kokoschka, Beuys, Gordon and McCarthy. The collection was international in outlook from the outset, and has been formed around ensembles of artists and works that together make up a coherent pattern. A large proportion of the present collection comes from Northern and Western Europe and the USA , but in future the museum intends to enlarge its scope to include contemporary Dutch work and art from the Middle East, North Africa and Eastern Europe which has hitherto barely been represented.

The Van Abbemuseum is not averse to challenges and believes in the fruitfulness of bold experiment. It is neither the medium nor the discipline that dictates the acquisitions and exhibitions, but the artistic cogency of a work in relation to its form and the social context in which it is – or originally was – shown. The curators in the Van Abbemuseum regard art unequivocally as a form of interaction, of action and reaction. The museum stimulates ongoing innovation in its presentation formats, which thereby contribute to the current interpretation of works of art. It also initiates research, forums and international exchanges. Throughout these activities, the museum relentlessly questions its own function in contemporary society and in the currents of debate that suffuse it. The Van Abbemuseum pursues a role as an inspiring meeting place and as an actively engaged knowledge centre for young and old, for professionals and non-professionals.

Photo: Peter Cox