Dutch American loans private collection to Michigan exhibit

Nineteenth century Dutch painting

HOLLAND, Michigan - A large part of the art collection of Jan and Mary Anne Beekhuis will be on display this summer at the local Holland Museum. The exhibit ‘Waiting for Van Gogh: Dutch Paintings from the 19th Century’ runs through September 6th.

Art connoisseur Beekhuis is a South African born of Dutch immigrant parents who already had started an eclectic art collection. He moved to the U.S. in 1953 to finish his postgraduate education and eventually left his Wayne State University teaching career to become a Detroit plastic surgeon. Now retired and living in California, the Beekhuis’ have assembled a collection of over 150 pieces, of which 36 are part of the exhibit at the Holland Museum.

Many of the pieces in the exhibit are from the so-called Hague School and the Romantic Period. The artists of the Hague School found inspiration in and around their town and nearby Scheveningen, then a major fishing village. They include the older generation of artists such as Jozef Israëls and Mesdag, and the younger group of the brothers Jacob, Matthijs en Willem Maris, Paul Gabriël en Anton Mauve.

This is the first major exhibition of the Beekhuis collection. The art collector loaned Holland Museum his collection for the exhibit because as an accredited museum it emphasizes Dutch culture and art.