The Women Who Made Museums

Open almost any historical survey of collecting, and you will be presented with a catalogue of the men who have formed great collections over the centuries – with Catherine the Great and Peggy Guggenheim among the few exceptions, perhaps. But many of the great collections we know today were created or shaped by women whose impact on the history of taste, and on the evolution of collections to become publicly accessible museums, is finally receiving due attention. This conversation will explore the characters and collections of three women who surrounded themselves with art – Alice de Rothschild, Marjorie Merriweather Post and Helene Kröller-Müller – and how the obstacles and opportunities they encountered may have informed the collections they built. It will explore how these women’s legacies are reflected today at – respectively – Waddesdon Manor (Buckinghamshire), Hillwood Museum (Washington, D.C.) and the Kröller-Müller Museum (Otterlo). This discussion is part of a series of three events in collaboration with Apollo magazine, exploring the human stories behind museum collections and how the characters and achievements of historic collectors make themselves felt – and are being re-evaluated – in museums today.