Draiflessen Collection

The Draiflessen Collection is a private initiative established in 2009 by the Brenninkmeijer entrepreneurial family. The art museum is non-profit and open to the public. It regularly mounts exhibitions that address issues of social relevance, examining such issues from both artistic and scholarly perspectives. Each exhibition is accompanied by a wide-ranging supporting program of events as well as specific educational activities and workshops for adults, children, and families, including guided tours for those with special needs, such as people suffering from dementia, and their relatives. The ancestors of the Brenninkmeijer founding family were Tüötten, itinerant merchants from Westphalia who traveled around Germany and northern Europe, mainly in the 17th and 18th centuries, trading in linen. In choosing the location for Draiflessen, the Brenninkmeijer family deliberately drew on its Westphalian roots, sustaining the connection with the family’s hometown of Mettingen. At the same time, the choice was linked with the decision to expand the range of cultural institutions in the region by founding an art museum outside of the area’s major urban centers. The name ‘Draiflessen’ is a word construction derived from the old, secret language of the Tüötten. Its two root words stems ‘drai’ (meaning: three, Trinity, turn, do business) and ‘flessen’ (meaning: flax, linen, home) express themes that are meaningful for the founding family: its close relationship to its Westphalian origins, its Christian faith, and its entrepreneurship, which, at its time, had its beginnings in the textile trade.