On an island of a pond outside Düsseldorf, the German art collector Karl-Heinrich Müller founded a museum called Insel Hombroich: a large sculpture park of twenty hectares dotted with several exhibition pavilions designed by sculptor Erwin Heerich. Years later, Müller bought land formerly occupied by an old NATO missile base about 1km northwest of Insel Hombroich, and planned a new museum. After a series of financial problems and delays, in the year 2000 Müller’s initiative received the support of the art collector Marianne Langen, who approved the scheme and provided financing for the construction. This was the beginning of the plan for the Langen Foundation / Hombroich.

The museum contains the collection of Oriental art and modern art accumulated by the Langen family. The dual nature of the collection is reflected in the building. On one hand, the Oriental art halls are spaces of ‘quietness’ suffused with soft light and surrounded by a buffer area recalling the Japanese engawa. On the other, the modern art halls, located in an underground volume, are spaces of ‘throbbing movement’ filled with a dramatic light brought in by means of skylights...[+]