Variegated flowers in vase

About this artwork.

Wiert Hendrik (Hein) Leemhuis (1899 - 1631) was a painter, businessman and started as a student at the age of nine at Minerva Academy in Groningen. He attended the introductory course until 1913 and soon came into contact with painters such as George Martens and Johan Dijkstra. He maintained contact with various art society De Ploeg members, but his career was initially far from artistic: he was one of the founders of the grocery chain De Spar. It was not until he was forty that he resumed his artistic work and was admitted as a member of De Ploeg. During the temporary closure of De Ploeg due to the war years, the Leemhuis house became an important gathering point for the members. Hendrik de Vries later recalled how Leemhuis guided the association through the perilous years of occupation and helped the painters with their indispensable materials for painting. In April 1945 Leemhuis took over the secretariat of De Ploeg again and became an active director. He was a board member of the Art Center Prince’s Court, founded in 1945, a member of the daily management of the Groninger Museum, co-founder and vice-chairman of the Art and Business Foundation and, from 1951 until shortly before his death in 1963, chairman of De Ploeg.

In addition to landscapes, portraits and figures, Leemhuis mainly made expressive flower still lifes, a genre that is rare within De Ploeg. Variegated flowers in vase from 1949 is an example of this. The flower arrangement depicted with various colors in pot. Leemhuis' main motif in it are flowers that, often in a white jug or vase, fill the image area in the rich colors or enter into a compositional interplay with a partially visible interior.

Leemhuis was sensitive to atmosphere in his landscapes, which is sometimes apparent from the sometimes drawing-like treatment and use of color. Leemhuis developed a style and a handwriting that, certainly in his later work, is related to French Neo-Impressionism.

The painting Variegated flowers in vase was donated in 1964 by the painter's widow.

Facts & Figures.

• Artist(s)
  Wiert Hendrik Leemhuis

• Year of creation
  1949

• Dimensions (in cm)
  97x74

• Collection
  Town Hall Collection

• Technic
  Oil paint on canvas