| Anton Kröller is known to most of the public only due to his wife, Helene Kröller-Müller, who used her husband?s money to create a world-famous art collection. Yet this Rotterdam entrepreneur was one of the richest, most powerful and most controversial figures in The Netherlands during the first half of the twentieth century. Before the First World War, Kröller was a successful business man. During the war he and a small group of business leaders determined The Netherlands? foreign and economic policy. This earned him the nickname ?the uncrowned king of The Netherlands?. He continued to do justice to this reputation throughout the 1920?s thanks to a global company named Müller & Co, a great number of commissions, involvement in the establishment of Hoogovens and KLM, an enormous estate named De Hoge Velluwe, a warm friendship with the German Prince Henry and his wife?s internationally acclaimed art collection. However, during the crisis years, his business ran into stormy weather. Sky-high debt to the Rotterdamsche Bankvereeniging (Robaver), a bank of which Kröller was a commissioner, almost led to the collapse of both Robaver and Müller & Co. This study of Anton Kröller focuses on the interaction between the notable personality of this entrepreneur and his controversial public life, with the emphasis on the rise and fall of his company, Müller & Co. |
