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Situated in Cleves, close to the Dutch border, the Museum Kurhaus Kleve features important collections ranging from the late Gothic to the Baroque period, and on to modern and contemporary art.
Within the Gothic and Baroque periods, the wooden sculptures from the major Lower Rhine workshops of the fifteenth and sixteenth centuries are internationally renowned. Highlights include the Ascension of Christ and St. Lucy by Master Arnt of Kalkar and Zwolle (active c. 1460–1492) as well as the Handtuchhalter – a towel holder in the shape of a foolish couple, crafted by Arnt van Tricht.
With works by Hendrick Goltzius, Jan van Goyen, Frans de Hulst, the Cleves-born Rembrandt pupil Govert Flinck, Adriaen Hendriksz. Verboom, Anthonie van Borssum, Jan de Baen, Frederik de Moucheron and others, the museum also possesses numerous Dutch prints and paintings, to which special exhibitions have been dedicated in the past.
The permanent collection also includes the marble sculpture of Pallas Athena by the Amsterdam sculptor Artus Quellinus the Elder, which the City of Amsterdam presented to the Statthalter of Cleves, Johann Moritz von Nassau-Siegen, as a fountain figure for his gardens. Johann Moritz’s role in colonial endeavors with the Dutch West India Company (WIC) in Brazil has become a subject of increasing controversy and involves the museum in post-colonial debates.
The Museum Kurhaus is constantly adding to its collection: recent acquisitions include eight sketches by Jan van Goyen, produced in 1650-1651 during his journey to the Lower Rhine.
Anke Henriette Ehring, M.A., Research Associate (April 2026)