
Dirk Hannema (16 September 1895 – 7 July 1984) was a controversial museum director and art collector. The
Museum Boijmans flourished under his directorship, but he was also arrested and interned for eight months for his conduct during the
German occupation of the Netherlands during World War II. Further, his reputation was severely damaged when he inaccurately attributed various forgeries to the painter
Johannes Vermeer
Johannes Vermeer ( , ; see below; also known as Jan Vermeer; October 1632 – 15 December 1675) was a Dutch painter who specialized in domestic interior scenes of middle-class life. He is considered one of the greatest painters of the Dutch ...
, among others. However, a quarter century after his death, he was at least partially vindicated when ''Le Blute-Fin Mill'', a painting he had championed (to universal scorn) as a
van Gogh
Vincent Willem van Gogh (; 30 March 185329 July 1890) was a Dutch Post-Impressionist painter who is among the most famous and influential figures in the history of Western art. In just over a decade, he created approximately 2,100 artwork ...
, was finally authenticated as being by the renowned painter.
Early life
Dirk Hannema was born in
Batavia,
Dutch East Indies
The Dutch East Indies, also known as the Netherlands East Indies (; ), was a Dutch Empire, Dutch colony with territory mostly comprising the modern state of Indonesia, which Proclamation of Indonesian Independence, declared independence on 17 Au ...
, the son of Dirk Hannema and Hermine Elise de Stuers. When he was five, the family moved to the Netherlands. After graduating from high school and fulfilling his military service, he studied law at
Leiden University
Leiden University (abbreviated as ''LEI''; ) is a Public university, public research university in Leiden, Netherlands. Established in 1575 by William the Silent, William, Prince of Orange as a Protestantism, Protestant institution, it holds the d ...
between 1917 and 1919, and then art history at
Utrecht University
Utrecht University (UU; , formerly ''Rijksuniversiteit Utrecht'') is a public university, public research university in Utrecht, Netherlands. Established , it is one of the oldest universities in the Netherlands. In 2023, it had an enrollment of ...
.
Museum Boijmans
He did not graduate, accepting a position as assistant at the Museum Boijmans in
Rotterdam
Rotterdam ( , ; ; ) is the second-largest List of cities in the Netherlands by province, city in the Netherlands after the national capital of Amsterdam. It is in the Provinces of the Netherlands, province of South Holland, part of the North S ...
. When F. Schmidt Degener was appointed director of the
Rijksmuseum
The Rijksmuseum () is the national museum of the Netherlands dedicated to Dutch arts and history and is located in Amsterdam. The museum is located at the Museum Square in the borough of Amsterdam South, close to the Van Gogh Museum, the S ...
, Hannema took his place as director of the Museum Boijmans at the age of 26.
Under his leadership, the museum made some notable acquisitions. He was also instrumental in the construction of a new building, built by architect A. van der Steur in close collaboration with Hannema. The building opened in 1935. That same year,
Franz Koenigs
Franz Wilhelm Koenigs (3 September 1881 – 6 May 1941) was a German banker and art collector.
Biography
Koenigs was born on 3 September 1881 in , Prussia, Germany, to .
Koenigs became director of banks Delbrück Schickler & Co in Berlin, De ...
loaned the museum his collection of drawings. In 1938, Hannema acquired ''Christ and the disciples at Emmaus'' or simply ''The Emmaus'', a painting he attributed to Vermeer. (In 1945, the notorious forger
Han van Meegeren
Henricus Antonius "Han" van Meegeren (; 10 October 1889 – 30 December 1947) was a Dutch painter and portraitist, considered one of the most ingenious Art forgery, art forgers of the 20th century. Van Meegeren became a national hero after World ...
claimed it as his work.
[) Hannema was awarded an honorary doctorate by Utrecht University in 1939.
]
World War II
During the Nazi
Nazism (), formally named National Socialism (NS; , ), is the far-right politics, far-right Totalitarianism, totalitarian socio-political ideology and practices associated with Adolf Hitler and the Nazi Party (NSDAP) in Germany. During H ...
occupation of the Netherlands for most of World War II, Hannema was pro-German. In 1940, he was involved in the sale of the art collection formed by Franz Koenigs
Franz Wilhelm Koenigs (3 September 1881 – 6 May 1941) was a German banker and art collector.
Biography
Koenigs was born on 3 September 1881 in , Prussia, Germany, to .
Koenigs became director of banks Delbrück Schickler & Co in Berlin, De ...
to the Germans.[ The following year, he became a member of the ''Kultuurraad'' or "Culture Council", an advisory group of 23 pro-German "wise men" in the arts and sciences, and was put in charge of the country's museums in 1943 by ''Reichskommissar'' ]Arthur Seyss-Inquart
Arthur Seyss-Inquart (; ; 22 July 1892 16 October 1946) was an Austrian Nazi politician who served as Chancellor of Austria in 1938 for two days before the ''Anschluss''. His positions in Nazi Germany included deputy governor to Hans Frank in t ...
.
Hannema was investigated for his role in the Nazi era art market by the OSS Art Looting Investigation Unit
The Art Looting Investigation Unit (ALIU) was an American special intelligence unit during World War II whose mission was to gather information and write reports about Nazi art looting networks. It was set up by the Office of Strategic Services (O ...
, which considered him to be a "Principal collaborator in Dutch art world. Member of Seyss-Inquart organisation. Adviser to Goering on art exchanges with Kroeller-Mueller Museum." He was placed on the Red Flag List of Names.
After the liberation of the country by the Allies, Hannema was arrested and interned for eight months for the illegal sale of art to the Germans, but was never formally convicted and was released in 1947. However, he was dismissed from his position at the Museum Boijmans.
''Le Blute-Fin Mill''
He spent the rest of his life expanding and exhibiting his private art collection.
In 1975, Hannema purchased ''Le Blute-Fin Mill'' from a Parisian art dealer for 6500 francs. He insisted it was a Van Gogh, but could not get anyone to take him seriously because of his numerous earlier discredited claims.
He founded the Museum de Fundatie
Museum de Fundatie () is a museum for the visual arts in Zwolle, Netherlands. Museum de Fundatie forms part of the Hannema-de Stuers Foundation, to which Kasteel het Nijenhuis in Heino also belongs. Museum de Fundatie possesses a collection of vis ...
in Zwolle
Zwolle () is a List of cities in the Netherlands by province, city and Municipalities of the Netherlands, municipality in the Northeastern Netherlands. It is the Capital city, capital of the Provinces of the Netherlands, province of Overijssel ...
and bequeathed the painting to it[ when he died at ]Wijhe
Wijhe () is a village in the Dutch province of Overijssel. It is located in the municipality of Olst-Wijhe and is situated about 12 km south of Zwolle on the banks of the river IJssel
The IJssel (; ) is a Dutch distributary of the river ...
, Netherlands
, Terminology of the Low Countries, informally Holland, is a country in Northwestern Europe, with Caribbean Netherlands, overseas territories in the Caribbean. It is the largest of the four constituent countries of the Kingdom of the Nether ...
in 1984. Twenty-five years later, the Van Gogh Museum
The Van Gogh Museum () is a Dutch art museum dedicated to the works of Vincent van Gogh and his contemporaries in the Museum Square in Amsterdam South, close to the Stedelijk Museum, the Rijksmuseum, and the Concertgebouw. The museum opened o ...
in Amsterdam
Amsterdam ( , ; ; ) is the capital of the Netherlands, capital and Municipalities of the Netherlands, largest city of the Kingdom of the Netherlands. It has a population of 933,680 in June 2024 within the city proper, 1,457,018 in the City Re ...
finally authenticated the work as a Van Gogh, painted in 1886 in Paris.[
]
References
{{DEFAULTSORT:Hannema, Dirk
1895 births
1984 deaths
Directors of museums in Rotterdam
Dutch art collectors
Dutch collaborators with Nazi Germany
People from Batavia, Dutch East Indies
Dutch people of the Dutch East Indies
Dutch prisoners and detainees
Prisoners and detainees of the Netherlands
Leiden University alumni