Benno Tempel New General Director of the Kröller-Müller Museum

Benno Tempel (1972) is an art historian and has been director of Kunstmuseum Den Haag (including Fotomuseum Den Haag, KM21 and Escher in Het Paleis) since 2009. He began his career as guest curator at the Dordrecht Museum and worked from 1997 to 2000 as assistant curator at the Van Gogh Museum and curator at Museum Mesdag. He received a research grant from the Rijksmuseum to conduct research into the museum’s history. He was curator of exhibitions at the Kunsthal Rotterdam from 2000 to 2006. He then returned briefly to the Van Gogh Museum before becoming director of Kunstmuseum Den Haag (formerly Gemeentemuseum Den Haag) in 2009.

At Kunstmuseum Den Haag, Tempel gave priority to the collection, often using it as the starting point for the exhibition programme. Moreover, he was able to expand the collection with high-profile acquisitions. In 2019, he curated the Dutch entry for the 58th Venice Biennale, with the exhibition The Measurement of Presence. Iris Kensmil and Remy Jungerman. Tempel chaired the jury of the Koninklijke Prijs voor Vrije Schilderkunst (Royal Award for Painting) from 2013 to 2017. He is chairman of the board of the Van Doesburg House Foundation (near Paris), advisor to the Rembrandt Association and a member of the Vetting Committee 19th-century painting of the Tefaf and PAN.

Image : Copyright Robin de Puy