Entrance in the old wing of the museum
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Location in North Brabant, Netherlands
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Location | Bilderdijklaan 10 Eindhoven, Netherlands |
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Coordinates | 51°26′5″N 5°28′56″E / 51.43472°N 5.48222°ECoordinates: 51°26′5″N 5°28′56″E / 51.43472°N 5.48222°E |
Type | Art museum |
Visitors | 98,100 (2012) |
Founder | Henri van Abbe |
Director | Charles Esche |
Website | www |
Van Abbemuseum (Dutch pronunciation: [vɑn ˈɑbəmyˌzeːjɵm]) is a museum of modern and contemporary art located in central Eindhoven, Netherlands, on the east bank of the Dommel river. Established in 1936, the Abbe Museum is named after its founder, Henri van Abbe. Van Abbe was a lover of modern art and wanted to enjoy it there from Eindhoven. As of 2010, the collection of the museum houses more than 2700 works of art, of which about 1000 are on paper, are 700 paintings, and 1000 are sculptures, installations and video work.
With an area of 9,825 m2, monument number 507030, the museum holds one of the largest collections of paintings in the world by El Lissitzky. It also has works by Pablo Picasso and Wassily Kandinsky.
The museum's original collection was bought by Eindhoven city council in 1934 in an agreement with Henri van Abbe, a private collector and local cigar manufacturer. In return for buying some of his collection, the Van Abbe factory paid for and donated the museum building to house the collection which opened in 1936. The city had architect Alexander Kropholler design a building which is a symmetrical suite of galleries in traditionalist style. The museum name was given on publications as "Stedelijk Van Abbemuseum" up until about 1990 and as "Van Abbemuseum" after that time.