Andries Bonger

Andries Bonger (Paris, August 1885)

Andries Bonger (born May 20, 1861 in Amsterdam , † January 20, 1936 there ) was a Dutch insurance salesman and art collector . With works by Odilon Redon , Vincent van Gogh , Émile Bernard , Paul Cezanne and other artists, he owned one of the most important Dutch art collections of post-impressionism and French symbolism, which were considered avant-garde at the time .

Life

The son of insurance broker Hendrik C. Bonger first attended French and then commercial school in Amsterdam. After graduating from school, he went to Paris in 1879 , where he worked as a clerk in a trading company. In Paris he found access to artistic circles. He made friends with the son of the writer Conrad Busken Huet , in whose salon he frequented. In 1882 he met the art dealer Theo van Gogh at Club Hollandais , with whom he often visited the Louvre . Theo van Gogh was supposed to marry Andries' sister Johanna in 1889 . Andries Bonger also met Vincent van Gogh in 1885. At his funeral in 1890 he met Émile Bernard. This introduced him to Odilon Redon, with whom Andries Bonger should have a lifelong friendship.

Portrait of Andries Bonger, his wife Marie and self-portrait by Émile Bernard (1908)

In 1892 Andries Bonger accepted an offer from the insurance company WE Mercier, for which his father also worked, and returned to Holland. He first settled in Hilversum , where he came into contact with the writers Louis van Deyssel and Johan de Meester . In 1899 he moved to Amsterdam and in 1913 to Aerdenhout with his first wife . In 1918 he met Frans Erens , with whom he was to be in correspondence until 1935. Bonger held board positions in the insurance industry, was among other things senior partner at WE Mercier and Sickler, Bonger & Co. and director of the marine insurance company De Zee . For years he was chairman and then honorary chairman of the Association of Insurers. He was considered an expert in marine insurance . In 1924 the Bongers returned to Amsterdam. After the death of his wife, Bonger married a second time in Rome in 1934 .

Bonger became internationally known as a collector of paintings, especially Bernards, Van Goghs and Cezannes, who were part of the avant-garde at the time, as well as the complete lithographic works of Odilon Redon. As a rule, he bought directly from the then unknown artists whom he mostly knew personally. Bonger's collection, which he mainly brought together between 1893 and 1908, was one of the most important and valuable in the Netherlands. After Bonger's death, the works of art were initially in the private possession of his widow. Some pieces were gradually sold to museums in the Netherlands. During the Second World War the works of art were hidden. When the remaining collection of 107 works, mainly Redons and Bernards, was put up for sale in 1996, the Dutch state declared it a national cultural heritage and acquired it. These works are on permanent loan at the Van Gogh Museum Amsterdam.

literature

• Harry GM Prick: BONGER, Andries (1861-1936) In: Biografisch Woordenboek van Nederland 3 (The Hague 1989).
• Fred Leeman with assistance from Fleur Roos Rosa de Carvalho: Odilon Redon and Emile Bernard. Masterpieces from the Andries Bonger collection . Van Gogh Museum, Amsterdam / Waanders Publishers, Zwolle 2009. Excerpt (PDF; 913 kB)