Largely drawn from the collection of Helene Kröller-Müller (1869-1939), the exhibition will show radical works of French, Belgian and Dutch artists, painted from 1886 to the early 20th century. These include Jan Toorop (1858-1928), Théo van Rysselberghe (1862-1926), Paul Signac (1863-1935), Georges Seurat (1859-1891), Henry van de Velde (1863-1957) and Anna Boch (1848-1936).
Pioneer
Helene Kröller-Müller assembled what is probably the world’s greatest and most comprehensive collection of Neo-Impressionist paintings just two decades after these works were painted. As well as being one of the first European women to put together a major art collection, she was a pioneer in displaying modern works of art on white walls; in a museum designed by Belgian architect Henry van de Velde, who began his career as a Neo-Impressionist painter.
Radical Harmony
Radical Harmony: Helene Kröller-Müller’s Neo-Impressionists will focus on how this style became one of the very first pan-European art movements. So radical that some critics of the time saw it as signifying the death of painting, due to the methodical nature of a painting’s production in regular pointillist dots of pure colour, removing an artist’s individuality usually expressed through their brush strokes.
The radical nature of these works will be explored both in the way that they were painted, and in political underpinnings of the Neo-Impressionist movement with artists reacting against the industrial age with a desire to reshape society by painting the struggles faced by the working class.
At the same time, they also aimed to produce paintings that sought to transcend reality, creating radically simplified compositions that captured the essence of what they aimed to depict, attaining harmony through colour and geometry.
Cooperation
The exhibition will also feature works that Helene did not collect herself. These will come from public and private collections worldwide including the Rijksmuseum, Amsterdam, Museum Barberini, Potsdam, and Tate, as well as works from the National Gallery’s own Neo-Impressionist collection.
Radical Harmony: Helene Kröller-Müller’s Neo-Impressionists is curated by Julien Domercq, Curator, the Royal Academy of Arts, Christopher Riopelle, the Neil Westreich Curator of Post-1800 Paintings at the National Gallery, and Renske Cohen Tervaert, Curator, Kröller Müller Museum.
Radical Harmony: Helene Kröller-Müller’s Neo-Impressionists will be on display at the National Gallery in London from 13 September 2025 until 8 February 2026.
This is not the first time the museum has collaborated with the National Gallery. Currently on show in London is the exhibition Van Gogh: Poets and Lovers. It features six Van Gogh paintings from the Kröller-Müller Museum's collection. The exhibition can still be seen until 19 January 2025.
Images: Georges Seurat, Le Chahut, 1889-1890 / Helene Kröller-Müller