On the reverse: “eigendom van maria heyboer brand gekocht van anton heyboer juni 1977 no 184”
Provenance: Galerie Wansink, Roermond • Private collection since 1987
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Anton Heyboer (1924–2005) was a Dutch painter and etcher, known for his unconventional lifestyle and deeply symbolic art. He was born in Sabang on the Indonesian island of Weh. His youth was spent partly in the Dutch East Indies, Curaçao, and eventually the Netherlands.
During the Second World War, Heyboer was forced to work in Berlin by the Germans. This traumatic period left deep marks and would strongly influence his later work. After the war, he initially worked as a technical draftsman, but soon devoted himself entirely to art.
In 1951, Heyboer suffered a psychological crisis and voluntarily admitted himself to the psychiatric institution in Santpoort. There he developed his “system” — a symbolic and philosophical worldview that he expressed in his work through abstract signs, numbers, and figures. The system revolved around themes such as innocence, freedom, love, and overcoming fear.
In the 1960s, Heyboer gained international recognition. His work was exhibited at events such as Documenta in Kassel, and in 1962 he won the prestigious Ohara Museum Prize in Japan. Despite his success, he remained an outsider within the art world.
A major turning point came in 1975, when he was given a large solo exhibition at the Stedelijk Museum Amsterdam. For the first time, Heyboer presented large-scale paintings, but even during the exhibition he began to doubt them, and after it ended he decided to paint over them. He used zinc white and red oil paint to cover parts of the works and apply new imagery, resulting in paintings with a characteristic pink glow. Some original elements remained visible, while others disappeared. This act was a symbolic rejection of his growing fame and a deliberate break with the established art world.
Around the same time, Heyboer met the Marchioness Domitilla Cavaletti in Rome, who made a deep impression on him. Although their contact was brief and his letters to her went unanswered, she inspired a series of paintings through which he allowed her to live on in his art. For Heyboer, Domitilla became an embodiment of “the world” and the human soul.
From the 1980s onward, Heyboer withdrew completely from public life. He lived with several so-called “brides” on his property in Den Ilp, where he worked and lived in simplicity. For Heyboer, life and art were inseparable: both revolved around freedom, authenticity, and spirituality, independent of social conventions.
