The establishment of the museum was initiated in 1965 by Holstebro Municipality. The author and art critic Poul Vad stated the visons of the museum, and when the museum opened in 1967, it was with a collection of world art and art from all over the world. Besides danish art you could experience works by i.a. Picasso, Chagall and Matisse as well as traditional african art. The museum was set in a noble villa from 1906 drawn by Andreas Clemmesen. Up until today art is on display in the villa, but now it also serves as main en- trance for the total museum complex drawn by Hanne Kjærholm in 1976. An extension to the museum was inaugurated in 1981. In 2011 the museum was extended with The Færch Wing. The collections of Holstebro Kunstmuseum have been considerably expanded through the years. They are concentrated on aspects of classical modernism, Cobra and contemporary art with focus on the relations be-tween experiment and tradition. It is still a hallmark that the museum shows danish art alongside international art and art from non-western cultures in order to illustrate art as an universal phenomenon.
