Museum van Bommel van Dam

Museum van Bommel van Dam is a museum of modern art located in Venlo, in the southeastern province of Limburg, Netherlands. Established in 1971, the institution originated from the private collection of Maarten and Reina van Bommel-van Dam, who amassed art after the Second World War. The museum exhibits paintings, drawings, sculpture, photography, and installations, and participates in the German-Dutch Crossart partnership, a cooperative network of seven German museums in Westfalen and four Dutch museums in Gelderland and Limburg.

The museum was founded by the Amsterdam couple Maarten van Bommel (1906-1991), a banker and art lover, and Reina van Bommel-van Dam (born in Voorthuizen on 31 December 1910, died 29 July 2008). They began collecting modern art after the Second World War. By 1969, their Amsterdam residence had become too small to house their collection of roughly 1,100 to 1,200 works. They decided to donate the entire collection to the Municipality of Venlo on the condition that a museum be created in a building connected to a private house where the couple could live, with an internal door providing them free access to the galleries. The museum named after them opened in 1971. The institution later underwent privatization and relocated to a new site, temporarily closing for the move on 1 November 2017. It reopened on 5 September 2021. The museum has also hosted experimental exhibitions, such as the 2014 Join In! project, where private citizens could rent a section of museum wall for 100 euros per square meter to display their own art. Additionally, the Van Bommel Van Dam foundation awards a 5,000 euro prize every three years to a promising artist under 35 from the Netherlands or North Rhine-Westphalia who works in two-dimensional media, acquiring and exhibiting the winner's work.

The core of the museum's holdings is the founders' donation, which reflects their personal tastes rather than a singular art historical direction. The couple acquired pieces that pleased them, often driven by an interest in material, coloring, or provenance, and they frequently collected ethnological art, such as a woodcut by Hokusai, alongside modern works. The collection's primary focus is contemporary Dutch art, particularly works associated with the CoBrA movement and the Amsterdamse Limburgers artist group. Many works in the collection represent early periods in the careers of the included artists. Later acquisitions expanded into informal art and material art.

The collection includes works by prominent CoBrA artists such as Karel Appel, Eugène Brands, Constant Nieuwenhuys, Guillaume Cornelis van Beverloo, Jaap Nanninga, Lucebert, Anton Rooskens, and Theo Wolvecamp. Other significant Dutch and international modern artists represented include Armando, Bram Bogart, Kees van Bohemen, Rudi Bierman, Gerrit Benner, Herbert Fiedler, Edgar Fernhout, Arie Kater, Anton Heyboer, Jan Schoonhoven, Shinkichi Tajiri, and Jaap Wagemaker. Maarten and Reina van Bommel-van Dam were also the first private collectors to purchase works by local Limburg artists such as Ger Lataster and Aad de Haas. The museum further holds pieces by Pieter Defesche, Jef Diederen, Rineke Dijkstra, Hubertine Heijermans, Frank van Hemert, Lei Molin, Erwin Olaf, Cornelia Schleime, Rob Scholte, and JCJ Vanderheyden.

The original museum building was specifically constructed to satisfy the founders' condition that the museum be connected to their private residence. In 2017, the museum moved from this original location to the former Hoofdpostkantoor Keulse Poort, situated directly opposite the old site. The former post office was remodeled and expanded to house the institution. In the new building, certain areas, including the restaurant, the cellar, and the attic floors, are freely accessible to the public without an admission ticket.

Museum van Bommel van Dam is located in Venlo, Netherlands. The museum transitioned from municipal ownership to a privatized museum foundation to pursue a new course aimed at increasing visitor numbers, which had stagnated between 10,000 and 15,000 annually. It participated in the Crossart German-Dutch museum cooperation from 2004 to 2010. Paulo Martina currently serves as the museum director, succeeding Lei Alberigs, Thei Voragen, and Rick Vercauteren.