View of the new Museum Suasso (Stedelijk Museum), seen towards the rear of the Rijksmuseum, 1894

Netherlands

View of the new Suasso Museum (City Museum), and the rear facade of the Rijksmuseum. Twenty years after the creation of the foundation association for collecting funds for collections of modern art, the City Museum opened in 1895. The financial basis for the construction of the new museum was laid by Sophia Augusta Lopez Suasso-de Bruyn, who bequeathed her property to the city on the condition that her collection would be exhibited there. The city government ingeniously turned this bequest into.. Read more » the basis for the construction of the Museum of Modern Art, where, among other things, the Cabinet of Curiosities of this lady was placed. Under the post-war (?) director, it was removed from the Museum. After the Van Eeeghen family added another 1.5 tons on the condition that living artists could exhibit in the new museum, there were no obstacles to the construction. However, the designer of the Museum, A. W. Weissman, was absent from the festive opening in 1895. He was fired for overspending on construction costs.