Essay
How did a Dutch insurance man become the most important collector and confidant of symbolist artist Odilon Redon?
Andries Bonger was one of the most important Dutch art collectors of his time
Dozens of beautiful works by the leading, late nineteenth-century French artists were what you saw when you stepped over the threshold of the Amsterdam residence of Andries Bonger (1861-1936). Bonger amassed an impressive art collection over a period of fifteen years, and it all began in Paris.
There, in 1879, just eighteen years old, he started out as the youngest employee at a trading firm. In his spare time he visited galleries and exhibitions, eagerly immersing himself in the world of contemporary art and feasting his eyes on it.
Yet he only began to collect seriously after returning to the Netherlands. His lucrative job as an insurance agent afforded him the financial means to do so. He bought and acquired works by Vincent van Gogh, Émile Bernard and Odilon Redon, among others.
His collection grew into one of the most important ones of French modern art in the Netherlands. That was nothing short of exceptional, given that Dutch collectors in this field could be counted on one hand.
Vincent van Gogh, Self-portrait, 1887, Rijksmuseum Amsterdam
Emile Bernard, Woman Sitting in a Field: Brittany, c. 1890
Odilon Redon, The Boat, 1898
