Kunstmuseum Den Haag

Kunstmuseum Den Haag

Museum building designed by H.P. Berlage
Interactive fullscreen map
Former names	Museum voor Moderne Kunst, Gemeentemuseum
Established	29 May 1866 (1866-05-29)
Location	Stadhouderslaan 41 The Hague, Netherlands
Coordinates	52°5′23″N 4°16′50″E / 52.08972°N 4.28056°E / 52.08972; 4.28056
Type	Art museum
Visitors	361,922 (2023)[1] Ranking 9th nationally (2016)
Director	Margriet Schavemaker (from 1 June 2024)
Architect	Hendrik Petrus Berlage
Website	www.kunstmuseum.nl

The Kunstmuseum Den Haag is an art museum in The Hague in the Netherlands, founded in 1866 as the Museum voor Moderne Kunst. Later, until 1998, it was known as Haags Gemeentemuseum, and until the end of September 2019 as Gemeentemuseum Den Haag. It has a collection of around 165,000 works, over many different forms of art. In particular, the Kunstmuseum is renowned for its large Mondrian collection, the largest in the world. Mondrian's last work, Victory Boogie-Woogie, is on display at the museum.

The current museum building was constructed between 1931 and 1935, designed by the Dutch architect H.P. Berlage.^[2]

The KM21 (museum for contemporary art) and Fotomuseum Den Haag (The Hague museum for photography) are part of the Kunstmuseum, though not housed in the same building and with a separate entrance fee.^[3][4]

The new director Margriet Schavemaker started on 1 June 2024.^[5] She replaces Benno Tempel, who left as of 1 November 2023.^[6]

The museum's collection of modern art includes works by international artists (Edgar Degas, Claude Monet, Pablo Picasso, Egon Schiele, Frank Stella, Lee Bontecou, Henri Le Fauconnier and many others) and Dutch artists (Constant, Vincent van Gogh, Johan Jongkind, Pyke Koch, Piet Mondriaan, Charley Toorop, Jan Toorop, and many others).^[7]

The Kunstmuseum has one of the largest collections of Dutch Delftware in the world. Selected pieces of the collection are on display at the a permanent gallery which represent Dutch art in the 'Golden Age'.^[8] The museum also holds one of the largest collections of Persian ceramics and glasses in Europe.^[9]

The museum has a collection of 19th- and 20th-century prints, posters and drawings, containing around 50,000 items. It comprises works by Dutch artists such as Co Westerik and Jan Toorop, as well as works by Rodolphe Bresdin, Ingres, Paul Klee, Toulouse-Lautrec, Odilon Redon and others. A selection is on view in the print room.^[7]

The collection of fashion items, accessories, jewellery, drawings and prints includes historical items as well as modern ones by designers such as Cristóbal Balenciaga, Gabrielle Chanel, André Courrèges, John Galliano and Fong Leng. For reasons of conservation items are only shown at temporary exhibitions.^[7]

The music collection includes a large collection of musical instruments and a music library, with an emphasis on European music.^[7] The collection mainly includes fortepianos, wind and plucked string instruments. Also, there are instruments from other cultures and contemporary electronic instruments. In addition, the collection includes prints, posters, drawings and photographs relating to 'performance practice'. Part of the collection came from the Scheurleer Music History Museum, that lasted from 1905 to 1935, and was purchased after the bankruptcy of Scheurleer & Zoonen in 1932.^[10]

The museum has around 25 to 30 exhibitions per year.^[11] In 2021 and 2022 exhibitions have included Portuguese painter Paula Rego, Basque fashion designer Cristóbal Balenciaga and English potter and artist Grayson Perry.^[12] The 2021 exhibition Monet: The Garden Paintings was voted as the best museum exhibition in the Netherlands.^[13][14]

These numbers are solely for the Kunstmuseum, excluding KM21 and the Fotomuseum

The current home of the Kunstmuseum is a purpose built museum designed by the Dutch architect, H.P. Berlage. Although Berlage died just before its completion (with his son-in-law Emil Emanuel Strasser overseeing the building's final touches), it stayed faithful to Berlage's distinctive, inventive vision. It has been called "the dream museum", with a "completely separate goal ... than to museums of the time in the Netherlands."^[17] The final result was "not a pompous temple of art ... but a [museum of] simple, sober and accessible appearance; not imposing but inviting."^[18][17]

Nevertheless, this sober and accessible appearance was not to the liking of all early critics, more familiar with museums in the grand classical style. The use of everyday bricks rather than more opulent stones such as marble and granite was criticised. It lacked majesty. Others compared the building to a factory or a swimming pool, especially because of the two high towers at the back of the building complex.^[19] The inside of the building was immediately praised, however. The impressive entrance hall, with coloured tiles, columns and hall was particularly well received.^[20] This dual consideration was so summarised by one newspaper: "There is little to admire on the outside of Berlage's final creation, but on the inside there are many attractive features, and in general the whole complex of rooms creates the pleasant, calming and intimate feel.^[21]

Although the building appears constructed from distinctive yellow bricks, Berlage was enthusiastic about the possibilities of modern materials, such as reinforced concrete. As photographs taken during the construction indicate, the structural parts of the museum were built from iron and concrete.^[22][23] Only when this was finished were the bricks added as decorative elements around the concrete framework. To emphasise the decorative nature of the bricks, Berlage stipulated that each layer of bricks must be perpendicular to the level below it (and therefore be much weaker than the usual parallel layering of bricks).

Another unique aspect of Berlage's design was the central role played by the number 11. Many of the architectural elements are determined by the number 11, or multiples thereof. Most of the 4 million yellow bricks used in the building have a dimension of 5.5 cm × 22 cm × 11 cm. The width of windows panes in 44 cm.

The then director of the museum, Hans van Gelder, worked closely with Berlage on the design. One point of contention was the light source in the galleries. After much experimentation and argument, Berlage settled on a novel design. Unlike most museums, which had artificial lighting in the ceiling, the museum would make use of natural daylight, with blinds in the skylights above regulating the intensity of the light. "Light, light, Berlage has captured the magic of light here", one journalist marvelled.^[19] Newspapers also reported "all kinds of ingenious installations" as part of the modern design of the building – the warming, the ventilation and the lighting on the facade were all innovations for museums of the time.^[24]

On 29 May 1866, a group of artists and collectors in The Hague established The Society for the Development of a Museum of Modern Art (Dutch: Vereeniging tot het oprigten van een Museum van Moderne Kunst). The artworks brought together by this group would form the original core of the Kunstmuseum.^[25]

Among the initiators were The Hague politician Hugo Ferdinand (otherwise known Baron van Zuylen van Nijevelt), the Director of the Mauritshuis, Jean Zacharie Mazel, the artists David Bles, Louwrens Hanedoes, Carel Vosmaer, the architect Henri Camp, the former minister Agnites Vrolik, and Hendrik Steengracht van Oosterland, a representative of King William III.^[26] Later directors of the association included the artists Philip Sadée, Hendrik Willem Mesdag, Jacob Maris, Salomon Verveer and Johannes Stroebel. The association also had many artists and notables among its members, including Princes Frederik and Alexander of the Netherlands. The association started by purchasing paintings and was soon looking for exhibition space. The St Sebastian building and Panorama Mesdag, among others, were used temporarily as accommodation.^[27]

By 1871, the council had taken the decision to start a gemeentemuseum (council museum), including both historical artworks and objects, and contemporary pieces of art donated by The Society. The historical objects would be managed by the council, and the contemporary art by the Society.^[28] The museum was te be on the street called the Korte Beestenmarkt, in the centre of The Hague ^[29] Within a few months, it had been visited by Queen Wilhelmina.^[30] It included paintings such as Jan van Goyen's View of The Hague from the South East,^[31] now in the Haags Historisch Museum.^[32]

The museum collection continued to grow through the later parts of the nineteenth century, outgrowing the space at Korte Beestenmarkt. In 1883, the curators asked the council for funds for the refurbishment of the St Sebastian building in Korte Vijverberg, a short distance from the original setting for the museum.^[33] The new location was opened in July 1884.^[34] Space continued to be a problem, however, and temporary exhibitions continued to be shown at other locations in The Hague.

1912 saw the appointment of Hendrik van Gelder, who was already the official archivist for The Hague, as director of the Gemeentemuseum. His leadership would prove vital to the museum's dramatic evolution. Renewing the building was his primary concern. Extensive investigation from a couple of years before had confirmed that the St Sebastian building was completely unsuited to the collection – the building was vulnerable to fire, the quality of light poor, the rooms too small. Additionally, the original merging of two collections (of older, and contemporary art) confused the purpose and presentation of the museum.^[35]

Within a couple years of his appointment, van Gelder presented ideas to mayor and council of The Hague for a new building for modern art. It was envisaged as being part of a huge complex of cultural institutions, with no less than five separate museums.^[36] The First World War delayed any formal decision, but by 1918, the city council not only decided to approve van Gelder's ideas, but establish a Department for Art and Science (in Dutch: Dienst voor Kunsten en Wetenschappen) to give continued government support.^[37]

The renowned Dutch architect Hendrik Petrus Berlage was appointed in 1919. He worked with van Gelder to devise this new cultural complex for The Hague, based on a site on the Stadshouderlaan, a little to the north west of the city centre. A first project idea was exhibited at a renowned art studio in The Hague, the Pulchri Studio, and was popular with the general public. It formed a U-shape, with two wings – one wing a museum for modern art, and the other one for applied arts. There was also a concert building, and space for other cultural activities.^[35] However, The Hague council found the plans too expensive and too ambitious. Nevertheless some of the ideas – such as the reflective pond, and the notion of a complex of buildings – would remain in the ultimate design.^[35] Berlage's more modest design of 1922 were also rejected, and the council cooled on the overall idea of a set of buildings with multiple cultural purposes.

Frustrated at the lack of action, the director Van Gelder threatened to resign. Things now started moving. A firmer set of requirements was created. There was clarity concerning the collection development of the museum. The Gemeentemuseum would be a museum for art from 1800 onwards; earlier art would to be exhibited at the Mauritshuis. The cost of the new building would be around 2.5m guilders, and it would cover a space of maximum 5,000 m2.^[35]

Within 2 years Berlage had produced designs that would result in the current building. Work started in 1931,^[38] but it would turn out to be Berlage's last design. The architect died in 1934.^[39] The work was faithfully completed under the direction of Berlage's son-in-law, E.E. Strasser. It was officially opened on 29 May 1935.^[19]

The museum soon began receiving international attention. It received loans of paintings by artists such as Van Gogh, Manet and Monet, and organising exhibition focussed on contemporary French art,^[17] and another on oriental influences on French art.^[40] Shortly after opening, an international congress of museum workers gathered in The Hague, celebrating the "clear and honest" appearance of the museum.^[41] A year later an international conference on women's rights was hosted at the Gemeentemuseum. The main speaker, Margery Corbett Ashby, spoke of her "admiration for the building, which represented the modern life of a great city".^[42] The museum was noted for its progressive attitude to women's art: the original layout included a room dedicated to female artists (such as Coba Ritsema and Ina Hooft), an unusual decision at the time.^[17]

The advent of the Second World War had an immediate effect. At the outbreak of war in mid-1939, the director Hendrik van Gelder made immediate plans to keep the collections safe. Unlike the Rijksmuseum and Mauritshuis (which had shut immediately), the Gemeentemuseum would continue to show its artworks and allow public entry. Van Gelder had the advantage of a new storage area under the museum – Berlage's concrete framework offered reliable protection. In the advent of any physical threat the works could quickly be moved there.^[43] When the Netherlands was attacked the next year (10 May 1940), the museum staff worked quickly to bring the artworks into safety. Paintings were taken out of their frames, and with the help of volunteers such as the Boy Scouts, brought to the museum depot. The German invasion happened rapidly; the Dutch surrender and cessation of fighting meant that the artworks could quickly be reinstalled, with the paintings replaced in their frames.^[44] The museum reopened in late May 1940.^[45]

Museum life continued seemingly as normal immediately after the German occupation. Concerts continued to be given. Exhibitions such as "Still Lifes and Flowers from 30 Contemporary Painters"^[46] and one dedicated to the Dutch artist Frans Helfferich were shown. The latter was introduced by the new director, Gerhardus Knuttel, who took over in 1941.^[47] But as the war continued, things became significantly more difficult. In 1942, the museum was earmarked by the Nazi occupiers to be destroyed as part of the creation of a defensive line in the city. Only after heavy protests from museum staff were the plans altered. However, it was no longer safe to keep the collection in the underground depot. Within a hurried period of 14 days, the entire collection was transported to various bunkers throughout the Netherlands.^[17][48] Following that, the Germans used the empty museum for storage. The year after it was reported that Knuttel had taken honourable resignation from his position;^[49] in reality he was forced into a prisoner of war camp for refusing to work with the Nazis.^[17]

At the end of the war ended there was considerable damage to the building. V2 rockets had destroyed the roofs and glass had been blown out the windows. There was considerable flooding, and doors and flooring had either been taken away or become unusable. Work immediately began on the repair so that the museum could come back to life.^[48]

Soon after the war, the Gemeentemuseum appointed its first female director, Victoria Hefting – one of the first women to assume such a position in the Netherlands.^[50] She was determined to put the collection to good use: in a speech of 1948 she adopted the words of the French poet Lafontaine "l'usage seulement fait la possession"  – "Possession is only justified by usage."^[51]

Perhaps most striking under her leadership, the Gemeentemuseum extended its international ambitions, an important point of connection after the divisions of the Second World War. Her staff organised exhibitions on the Dutch proto-impressionist Johan Barthold Jongkind that received positive reviews for illuminating French – Dutch connections in the deveopment of 19th-century art,^[52] Danish sculpture and architecture,^[53] the Belgian artist James Ensor,^[54] Norwegian art,^[55] and even the German poet and writer Goethe.^[56] Hefting also started moves to establish a Dutch Fashion Museum.^[57]

Hefting was also responsible for the creation of the Dijsselhof Room, an authentic creation of the architecture and interior design of the room of a nineteenth-century artist. In the museum’s ongoing acknowledgement of the place of women art, Hefting especially commissioned needleworkers to recreate the hanging designs in the room.^[58] The room still exists now.^[59]

Unfortunately, her time as director was short. Hefting remarried in 1950 and was obliged to resign. it was legally not permitted for married women to work in government services, a law that would not be repealed until 1957.^[60]

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  19th-century glass from Persia at museum
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  Pablo Picasso, 1910, Woman with Mustard Pot
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  Jürgen Partenheimer, Weltachse V, installation Gemeentemuseum Den Haag, 1999
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  Clavicytherium by Albert Delin ca.1760

• Official website
• Kunstmuseum Den Haag within Google Arts & Culture
• Media related to Kunstmuseum Den Haag at Wikimedia Commons