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ABOUT STADSGALERIJ HEERLEN
The Stadsgalerij Heerlen is the municipal museum for modern and contemporary art. Since 2003, the museum has been housed in the Glaspaleis, a visionary glass-fronted edifice dating back to the 1930s and acclaimed as one of the thirteen most important architectural monuments in the Netherlands. In addition to accommodating the museum, this ‘glass palace’, which promotes itself as a ‘window on culture’, is also home to the Municipal Library, the Heerlen Music School, the Filmhuis (a cinema for contemporary film) and the architectural centre, Vitruvianum.
A COLLECTION on the move
Modern Dutch painting
Since the 1950s, the City of Heerlen has been building up a collection of modern Dutch painting. The first additions to the collection included works by CoBrA artists. Early on, paintings by Amsterdam-based Limburg artists were acquired, including Ger Lataster, Lei Molin and Jef Diederen.
The Stadsgalerij was established in 1986 and since then acquisition has focussed on current and individual developments in Dutch painting. The collection has been enlarged with works by Ben Akkerman, Marlene Dumas, Rob van Koningsbruggen, Han Schuil, JCJ Vanderheyden, Toon Verhoef and many others. The museum also aims to acquire the works of talented young artists. Natasja Kensmil, Carla Klein, Charlotte Schleiffert, Koen Vermeule and Robert Zandvliet are just some examples.
The presence of top-quality works by Limburg artists emphasises the collection’s couleur locale.
In the future, the Stadsgalerij will continue to zero in on the confrontation with contemporary ideas in painting and this will be reflected in its acquisition policy. In this way - not least because of its eccentric position in relation to other Dutch art museums - the Stadsgalerij hopes to fulfil a defining role within the Euregion.
The Aad de Haas collection
The non-conformist painter Aad de Haas (b. Rotterdam 1920 – d. Schaesberg 1972) played a unique role on the Limburg art scene in the years following World War II. He said no to the changing fashions in modern art and continued to work in a figurative, expressionistic tradition.
In 1994 and 1995 the Stadsgalerij acquired a significant part of De Haas’ artistic legacy. Up to now, the collection includes over 250 works of art (paintings, drawings, monotypes and graphics) and gives a fascinating account of changing attitudes towards religion, eroticism and power.
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ABOUT STADSGALERIJ HEERLEN
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