Wim de Haan

Willem Jacobus “Wim” de Haan (1913–1967) is regarded, together with Bram Bogart and his friend Jaap Wagemaker, as one of the most important material artists to emerge in the 1950s. From 1937 onward, De Haan worked as a commercial agent in the Dutch East Indies. During this period he was called up as a soldier to fight in the war against Japan. When he was taken prisoner by the Japanese in 1942, he was forced to work on the Burma Railway until 1946. To process his trauma, De Haan turned to drawing and painting. The self-taught artist decided in 1953 to devote himself entirely to his art. His early paintings were surrealist, but his work soon developed toward abstract expressionism. De Haan studied the work of other artists and experimented with a variety of media. He focused largely on line drawings, material-based painting, and assemblage techniques. The meaning and expressive power of materials always played a central role in his work.