Searching for meaning

Her driving force

Searching for meaning was the driving force behind Helene Kröller-Müller's personal life and her collection. Her destination was a museum as a centre for spiritual life, set in the tranquillity of nature.

Art as the key to the soul

The exhibition follows Helene, from her childhood introduction to philosophy to the influence of art educator H.P. Bremmer. In her youth, Helene had very little exposure to art and culture. Her parents had no real interest in it. It was not until the age of 36 that Helene began taking art appreciation classes with Bremmer and became captivated by Spinozism, an influential philosophy at that time. At the heart of Spinoza's teaching is the search for God in all things earthly. Art was considered the rare key by which one could still gain access to the realm of the soul.

Depict the invisible and intanglible

The exhibition also discusses the searching of artists that Helene collected. They all sought to depict the invisible and intangible in their own way. The exhibition includes paintings by Vincent van Gogh, Johan Thorn Prikker, Jan Toorop, William Degouve de Nuncques, Odilon Redon, Pierre Puvis de Chavannes, Jan Sluyters, Charley Toorop, Piet Mondriaan, among others. And sculptures by artists including Joseph Mendes da Costa, John Rädecker, Johan Coenraad Altorf and Lambertus Zijl.