Albrecht Dürer in the Netherlands 1520-1521
In 1521 Albrecht Dürer celebrated his 50th birthday during his trip through the Low Countries (now the Netherlands and Flemish Belgium). The diary he kept, shows no sign of birthday partying on that day. Instead, he mentions how much he spent on a few books, on the doctor and on gambling. The diary essentially is […]
Netwerken in de esoterie
Art is not only the product of artistic inspiration, it is also determined by the social context of an artist. The avant-garde was ideologically determined by Western Esotericism, especially spiritualism, modern theosophy and anthroposophy. Genealogical methods uncover networks of artists, which not only run ‘vertically’ in generations, but also in ‘horizontal’ lines between families. This […]
Piet Mondrian and Simon Maris 1900-1907
These photographic documents about Piet Mondriaan’s years in Amsterdam from 1900 to 1907 show a largely unknown, leisurely joyful side of the painter, especially those of the voyage to Spain.Simon Maris (1873-1935) had been a friend of Arnold M. Gorter (1866-1933), since in 1900 Maris became a member of the artists-association St. Lucas in Amsterdam, […]
Ben Joppe schilder van het onmogelijke
Ben Joppe (1915-2007) was an unconventional painter with an unconventional career. Joppe left the Netherlands in 1939, only to return in the seventies, cosmopolitan in his views and a Zen Buddhist at heart. After having been interred in a Japanese camp in the Netherlands Indies, he worked for several international companies in the Far East. […]
St. Lucas 1885-1908
Over de periode 1885-1908 van de Amsterdamse kunstenaarsvereniging St. Lucas is veel minder bekend dan over de daarop volgende jaren, toen Mondriaan, Sluijters, Gestel en Van Dongen er hun spraakmakend werk toonden. St. Lucas moest zich eerst tussen 1885 en 1908 ontwikkelen van een kleine club leerlingen aan de Rijksakademie tot de meest toonaangevende kunstenaarsvereniging […]
Mondrian’s passions
No artist has changed the face of modern art, design and architecture more fundamentally than the Dutch painter Piet Mondrian. During his career Mondrian slowly but surely evolved from a traditional 19th century realist painter to the prime pioneer of pure abstraction. Post-war art historians and critics have always depicted Mondrian as an odd hermit, […]