Helene Kröller-Müller

Helene Emma Laura Juliane Kröller-Müller ( born February 11, 1869 in Essen, † December 14, 1939 in Otterlo ) was a German - Dutch painter and art collector. According to her, the Kröller -Müller Museum in Otterlo was named in the Netherlands, where the second largest Van Gogh collection in the world is.

Life

Helene Müller was born in 1869 in Horst to Essen, the daughter of a steel industrialists. The father had on his trading company and business in the Netherlands. She attended schools in Dusseldorf and Brussels. In 1888, she married Anton Kröller ( 1862-1941 ), the son of the director of the Rotterdam office of the company and part-owner of her father, and moved to The Hague. She has received numerous awards, such as Knight of the Order of the Dutch Lion and Knight of the Crown of Belgium.

Art

In 1907 she visited in The Hague lessons on art history at Henricus Petrus Bremmer, a renowned art historian who was her main advisor and also gave substantial impetus in building the art collection. In 1909 she purchased three works of van Gogh: Sunflowers, The Sower, and still life with bottle and lemon. The collection grew rapidly. She bought pictures at dealers in the Netherlands, Belgium, Germany and France, and also directly in the studios of the artists, such as in Paul Signac. In 1928 she built with her husband, the Kröller- Müller Foundation, which was subsequently transferred the entire art collection. In 1938 the Kröller -Müller Museum in Otterlo built at Arnhem by the Dutch State and the Foundation De Hoge Veluwe.