Van Abbemuseum
Museum of modern and contemporary art in Eindhoven, known for its experimental collection displays.
The Van Abbemuseum was founded by the Eindhoven cigar manufacturer Henri van Abbe and opened in 1936 in a brick building by Alexander Kropholler. Its collection of some 3,000 works covers modern and contemporary art, with particular depth in Russian constructivism, the historical avant-garde and post-war conceptual art. Works by Picasso, Kandinsky, Chagall, Beuys, Lichtenstein and Daniel Buren are held alongside one of the largest public groups of paintings by El Lissitzky.
A glass and concrete extension by Abel Cahen, opened in 2003, roughly tripled the exhibition space and added a tower over the river Dommel. The museum is known internationally for questioning how collections are shown, using devices such as reconstructions, audio tours written by artists and displays built around a theme rather than a chronology. Since 2026 the ground floor has been reorganised as the Dommelplein, a free public level with changing projects, and the collection is presented as Collection as Cosmos.
Highlights
- One of the largest public holdings of El Lissitzky's work
- Abel Cahen's 2003 tower extension beside the river Dommel
- Collection as Cosmos, a long-running rethought collection display
- Free ground-floor Dommelplein with changing projects
