Barbara Hepworth: Sculpture for a Modern World examined her career step by step, from a novice artist in the 1920s to the internationally renowned sculptor that she was at the end of her life. Sculptures made of wood, marble and bronze, already exceptional for the incredible craftsmanship with which they are created, were alternated with paintings, drawings and photographs of Hepworth at work in her studio, or among friends. 
The exhibition showed how Hepworth uses forms derived from nature, sometimes figuratively and sometimes abstract. She developed an unmistakable signature style that was of great significance for modern sculpture. Barbara Hepworth was a leading figure of the modern art movement in the nineteen thirties. And she was one of the world’s most successful female sculptors in the fifties and sixties.
The museum owns fourteen works by Hepworth. Eight sculptures were specially selected for the Rietveld Pavilion, which was rebuilt in 1965. The exhibition was organized in collaboration with Tate Britain in London and the Arp Museum Bahnhof Rolandseck in Remagen.
The Helene Kröller-Müller Fund was one of the main benefactors of this exhibition thanks to two generous contributions:
- € 80,000 (anonymous donor)
- € 25,000 (ABN AMRO)