Stiftung Insel Hombroich

Stiftung Insel Hombroich’s coll­ec­tions all have their origin in foun­da­tion founder Karl-Heinrich Müller’s private coll­ec­tion. As well as having owned a wide range of artworks in slide form as a child, he acquired art and cultural objects from different eras and cultures while travel­ling around the world from the 1960s onwards. In this regard, he was advised above all by artist friends such as Gotthard Graubner and Erwin Heerich and art historian Kitty Kemr, all of whom also accom­pa­nied him on his travels. As well as this, he drew on the expertise of gallery owners Alfred Schmela in Düssel­dorf and Sami Tarica in Paris.

In this way, Müller’s curiosity and passion for art gave rise to a vast coll­ec­tion of artworks and objets d’art from diverse cultures – most of this coll­ec­tion was exhibited perma­nently in the walk-in sculp­tures at Insel Hombroich. 

Collection Focus

A core area of the coll­ec­tion is the fine arts and crafts of European modernism: Hans Arp, Constantin Brancusi, Marcel Breuer, Alexander Calder, Paul Cézanne, Eduardo Chillida, Lovis Corinth, Jean Fautrier, Alberto Giaco­metti, Gotthard Graubner, Raymond Hains, Erwin Heerich, Anatol Herzfeld, Alfred Jensen, Yves Klein, Gustav Klimt, Norbert Kricke, Oliver Kruse, Henri Matisse, Francis Picabia, Rembrandt, Gerrit Rietveld, Medardo Rosso, Fritz Schwegler, Kurt Schwit­ters, Norbert Tadeusz and Bart van der Leck.

Another focus is on archaeo­lo­gical and ethno­lo­gical objects from various cultures from early to modern times: archaeo­lo­gical coll­ec­tions from Ban Chiang, Amlash and Luristan; Khmer sculp­tures; figures and objects from the Chinese Han and Tang dynasty; Chinese glassware from the 18th century; objects from Oceania (Australia, Polynesia, New Zealand), Africa (Ghana, Guinea, Mali, Nigeria) and Central and South America, including feather and textile works from the Nazca culture.