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Where art comes home TEXT: CHARLOTTE VAN HEK | PHOTOS: HUIS VOOR DE KUNST
The Huis voor de Kunst looks like a normal, rather beautiful house - until you enter. Inside, a magnificent collection of fine art is being displayed in an extraordinary way. “But, the Huis voor de Kunst is not a museum,” explains director Jan Starke. “The Huis voor de Kunst is a place that displays art and culture in a setting where they are meant to be shown,” begins Starke. “Art is not meant to collect dust in an attic, or be displayed in a big, empty room, under the watchful eye of security. Art belongs in a home. Art is meant to be shared.”
A house full of masters The Huis voor de Kunst opened its doors three years ago in a 1930s-style villa in Veendam. The house hosts a wide variety of art from different time periods, 26 | Issue 36 | December 2016
starting from the 17th century right up to contemporary art. The walls and rooms are adorned with work from a long list of artists including: Jan Davidsz. de Heem, Jan Brueghel II and Frans Francken II, Peter Paul Rubens, Alexander Keirincx, Jan Boeckhorst, Joost Cornelisz Droochsloot, Nicolaes Berchem, François Boucher, Jacques Majorelle, Louis Apol, George Hendrik Breitner, William Dodge Stevens, César Domela Nieuwenhuis, Johan Rudolf Bonnet, Juan Gris, Gerard Pieter Adolfs, W.G. Hofker, Bonnet, and Lucebert. Also prominently present are paintings by De Ploeg, an artist collective from Groningen where Starke was born and bred. Sculptures are shown from Salvador Dali, Ossip Zadkine, James Pradier, Pierre-Jules Mêne, Auguste Clésinger, and Raffaelle Monti among others. Contemporary art has an important place as well: the
Huis voor de Kunst has a collaboration with the Klassieke Academy in Groningen, regularly showing work from its students and alumni.
Art connects All works in the Huis come from Starke’s personal collection, which he started to compile when was only 20 years old. “I actually was a collector, without knowing that I was a collector,” Starke laughs. Before the Huis voor de Kunst was built, works were displayed in Starke’s own home where he discovered that art is an eminent means to connect people. “Art truly bonds people. Whenever I had visitors from all different countries, I noticed that sometimes it can be hard to connect them. However, when I took my visitors on a tour through the house, alongside my art, people suddenly started to engage with one another.”