Van de Velde immortalized in the museum

The Belgian painter Isidoor Opsomer made a portrait of Henry van de Velde in 1943. Hammacher wishes to acquire this work in 1957, because ‘it gives a dynamic impression of the appearance of the architect and of our museum’ and ‘was painted in precisely those years when he was working on the extension of the museum’. Although there are other interested parties – including museums in Antwerp, Van de Velde’s birthplace – Opsomer is prepared to sell the portrait to the Rijksmuseum Kröller-Müller for 5,000 guilders, half the asking price.

Hammacher emphasizes to the Oversight Committee that the portrait has a historical significance in the collection: ‘This completes the series of painted likenesses of the key figures in the history of the museum: Mrs Kröller by Floris Verster – Minister Marchant by Dirk Nijland – Bremmer by Floris Verster – Van de Velde by Opsomer’.

But again the Oversight Committee thwarts Hammacher’s plan. Even Hendrik Jeekel, on behalf of the Kröller-Müller Foundation, refuses to approve the purchase. According to him, this is in conflict with the provisions ‘as laid down in the deed of gift by Mrs Kröller’. Two days later, however, he reverses his decision. Hammacher probably appealed strongly to his sense of compassion, because Jeekel writes: ‘that it was, of course, never my intention to make a decision that might be considered disrespectful to Prof. Van de Velde’.

The portrait is delivered at the end of July. Van de Velde, who is unable to attend, informs Opsomer that he is happy. He had always hoped that ‘this painting might one day hang in one of the great museums of Europe or America’. After the reception, Hammacher writes to Van de Velde: ‘It gives me great personal pleasure that it has now ended up in your own museum’.

Henry van de Velde dies a few months later, on 25 October 1957. Hammacher honours the architect in the annual report: ‘Museum life seems inconceivable without the distant presence of this architect, who as the last of Mrs Kröller’s generation, and to the very end, has played a creative role in every architectural extension or modernization that the museum required. More unshakable than ever, it is now the duty of future generations not only to respect what has been accomplished, without his direct support and without the warm contact, but moreover to measure every necessary later modernization against that great and lucid force, who for 36 years was able to uphold the form through his deep-rooted connection with the body of thought out of which the complex of the park and museum arose’.

In addition, the widow of sculptor John Rädecker donates a bronze bust of Van de Velde, depicted in his role as professor behind a pile of books.