Insel Hombroich Foundation

The Insel Hombroich Foundation (Stiftung Insel Hombroich) is a German art foundation. According to its official website, Karl-Heinrich Müller, born in Düsseldorf in 1936, brought nearly his entire art collection as well as all his properties in Hombroich, including the buildings on an area of around 64 hectares, into the Stiftung Insel Hombroich in November 1996, which he founded together with the City of Neuss and the Rhein-Kreis Neuss.

Karl-Heinrich Müller, born in Düsseldorf in 1936 as the son of a master shoemaker, discovered his enthusiasm for art as a young man but opened a brokerage office in 1958 for his livelihood. It soon developed into the leading address in Germany for industrial real estate, with around 450 employees and offices throughout Germany and Europe. From 1968 he began systematically collecting 20th-century art, focusing on individual artist personalities such as Kurt Schwitters, Hans Arp, Jean Fautrier and Yves Klein. Two years later the idea matured in him to give something back to society with a museum. Only in 1982 did he succeed in finding a suitable place by acquiring the so-called Erftinsel outside the gates of Neuss. There Müller, together with the artists Gotthard Graubner (collection installation) and Erwin Heerich (architecture) as well as the landscape planner Bernhard Korte (landscape), developed a unique area. Over a period of 20 years Karl-Heinrich Müller bought a further 40 plots, some in the immediate neighborhood. With the acquisition of the former NATO rocket station Hombroich he finally expanded the museum ensemble with an innovative place of artistic production. In November 1996 Karl-Heinrich Müller brought nearly his entire art collection as well as all his properties in Hombroich, including the buildings on an area of around 64 hectares, into the Stiftung Insel Hombroich, which he founded together with the City of Neuss and the Rhein-Kreis Neuss.

1. 1Stiftung - Stiftung Insel Hombroichinselhombroich.de