From 30 September 2018 to 3 February 2019, on the initiative of the Rembrandt Association, the Kröller-Müller Museum is staging the exhibition For the love of art. More than eighty important acquisitions by forty Dutch museums, purchased in the past ten years with the support of the Rembrandt Association, are brought together for one time only. The artworks and objects have been selected and presented with great care by guest curator Peter Hecht – emeritus professor of art history at the University of Utrecht and fellow of the Rembrandt Association – and designer/stylist Maarten Spruyt.
For the love of art shows the full range of the museum acquisitions: paintings, drawings, photographs, sculptures and much more. The oldest work in the exhibition is about three thousand years old, the most recent dates from 2016. With this exhibition and the accompanying publication De Collectie Nederland is niet af (The Dutch National Collection is not complete), the partners emphasize the importance of (continuing to collect for) the Dutch National Collection, which is accessible to all. Thanks to the willing cooperation of the forty lending museums, it is possible to see the richness of these acquisitions together in one place.
A feast of unexpected encounters
For the love of art is not a chronological or art-historical overview of masterpieces, but a feast of unexpected encounters. The combinations are not only visually interesting but also offer food for thought. For example, a monumental sixteenth-century Biblical historical piece from Alkmaar hangs next to a huge photograph by Andreas Gursky from the Stedelijk Museum, and a prototype chair by Rietveld from the collection of the Centraal Museum in Utrecht is flanked by a painting by Alma-Tadema from Leeuwarden and a seventeenth-century floral still life from the Mauritshuis. The exhibition examines various aspects of collecting for the Dutch National Collection: how and why artworks are collected, which criteria are used, what changes have occurred over the years and how the Rembrandt Association has dealt with these changes.
About the Rembrandt Association
For 135 years already, the Rembrandt Association has been working as a private organization for the protection and enrichment of our public art collections. Museums throughout the Netherlands can submit applications for support if they wish to make an acquisition for the Dutch National Collection. The more than 15,500 members of the Association want world-class art to be seen, shared and passed on to future generations.
For more information: www.alskunstjeliefis.nl/en.