[3] In 1986, Henri Nannen (1913–1996) commissioned a building for his collection of 20th-century art in Emden, his home town.

The core of the collection includes German Expressionism with works by Nolde, Macke and Kokoschka.

In October 2000 the Munich art dealer and collector Otto van de Loo donated his collection to Kunsthalle Emden.

[6][7] In 2002 a settlement was reached with the heirs of Elisabeth Bamberger concerning the painting Bauernhof by Emil Nolde.

The reappeared in the Kuntshalle in Emden, where" it arrived as a bequest from the Henri Nannen Foundation".