Groninger Museum
The museum on the Verbindingskanaal
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 Location in the province Groningen in the Netherlands
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| Established | 1874 |
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| Location | Museumeiland 1 Groningen, Netherlands |
| Coordinates | 53°12′44″N 6°33′58″E / 53.21222°N 6.56611°ECoordinates: 53°12′44″N 6°33′58″E / 53.21222°N 6.56611°E |
| Type | Art museum |
| Visitors | 290,000 (2016 est.) |
| Director | Andreas Blühm |
| Curator | Mark Wilson |
| Public transit access | Groningen |
| Website | www |
The Groninger Museum (Dutch pronunciation: [ˈɣroːnɪŋər myˈzeːjɵm]) is an art museum in the city of Groningen in the Netherlands. The museum exhibits modern and contemporary art of local, national, and international artists.
The museum opened in 1874. The current post-modernist building consists of three main pavilions designed individually by architects Philippe Starck, Alessandro Mendini, Coop Himmelb(l)au, and was completed in 1994.
Since 2008, it has had 173,000 to 292,000 visitors per year, the highest amount of any museum in the province of Groningen.
The Groninger Museum was founded in 1874 and opened its own building twenty years later on the Praediniussingel, in 1894. The Menkemaborg, a historic mansion, was donated to the Groninger Museum by the heirs of its last inhabitants in 1921. The current building of the museum was opened in 1994.
The radically modernist structures that form the Groninger Museum stand in a canal opposite Groningen railway station. They consist of three main pavilions: a silver cylindrical building designed by Philippe Starck, a yellow tower by Alessandro Mendini, and a pale blue deconstructivist space by Coop Himmelb(l)au. A bridge that connects the museum to the train station is part of a cycling and walking path to the centre of the city.
The architecture's futuristic and colourful style echos the Italian Post Modern designs of the Memphis Group. Mendini, a former member of the firm, who is noted for his furniture and industrial designs, was asked by museum director Frans Haks in 1990 to design the new museum. Haks wanted something extravagant and insisted on non-architects to create the conceptual studies. American artist Frank Stella was originally approached to design one of the pavilions. However, his plan turned-out to be too expensive because he wanted his structure completely built out of Teflon. The municipality then invited Coop Himmelb(l)au to replace him for the commission.
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Wikipedia