Foundation in 2014

Exhibition 17 May – 17 August 2017

Adriaan Korteweg (1870-1917), A Re-discovery

This exhibition provides an insight into the life and work of artist Adriaan Korteweg, who was acknowledged right away by the celebrated Russian painter, Wassily Kandinsky. At one point, Kadinsky wrote to Franz Marc: “But new paintings, New Art? The only new, really interesting thing that is now truly alive are the paintings of a young Dutchman, who once visited me and now comes from time to time…”.

Korteweg and Kadinsky first met in March 1913. The Dutch artist was so impressed with Kadinsky’s writings and art that he left his architectural studies in Delft to move to Munich to paint. He installed himself in Schwabing, Munich’s bohemian quarter, where, that summer, he regularly mixed with members of a group of artists known as Der Blaue Reiter (“The Blue Rider”). Herwarth Walden, a member of this group, asked Korteweg to design the front page of his magazine Der Sturm (The Storm). Subsequently, Walden invited him to show some of his artworks at Berlin’s renowned Erster Deutscher Herbstsalon (First German Autumn Salon), where Korteweg presented four of his works.

Back in the Netherlands, Korteweg became increasingly interested in Theosophy and gave lectures for the Theosophical Association. Kandinsky’s Über das Geistige in der Kunst (Concerning the Spiritual in Art)

continued to be his chief inspiration. It motivated him to write his own life philosophy, kleur-licht-vuur (color-light-fire), and spurred him to visit monasteries in India. However, six months later, his journey was cut tragically short when, suffering from poor health, he was admitted to a hospital in Madras, where he died on 12 November 1917.

In 1993-94, the first exhibition dedicated to Korteweg’s work was held at the Lenbachhaus in Munich, which is most famous for its collection of paintings by Der Blaue Reiter.

In 2014, Korteweg’s work was included in the exhibition ‘El Greco and Modern Painting‘ at the Prado in Madrid, Spain.