For four generations, Helmond Castle belonged to the Wesselman van Helmond family. The exhibition, Freule Emelie Wesselman van Helmond (1895-1987), looks at the life of Emelie and her family. Emelie and her sister Betsy were the last children to grow up in Helmond Castle.

Life of a young girl

 What was it like as a young girl to explore the castle while playing? And, what was her life like as a young lady? Even though society today is very different from what it was 100 years ago, there are also surprising similarities.

Emelie at her bike in front of the castle, 1900

Personal belongings

In 2018, Emelie’s grandson, Mark Luis Earp, donated several personal belongings and photo albums of his grandmother and her family, and ever so many many family memories, to Museum Helmond. In the exhibition, in addition to the research findings from these donated objects, we show you family life at Helmond Castle more than a century ago.

Window to the world

We will sketch the life of Emelie and her family through footage and objects, including family albums, her mother’s diary, her school report card, the quartet, and various children’s books. The notebook in which then 13-year-old Emelie wrote an essay about her first ball at Helmond Castle opens a window to the world of the past for us as spectators.

This exhibition is sponsored by Mondriaan Fonds.