The Van Gogh Museum is the only Dutch museum to exhibit Girl in the Grass (1882) by Camille Pissarro, which is on loan from Kunsthalle Bremen – Der Kunstverein in Bremen. At the same time, Waanders Publishers is releasing a book titled Girl in the Grass: The Tragic Fate of the Van den Bergh Family and the Search for a Painting, written by Eelke Muller and Annelies Kool with contributions by Dorothee Hansen, Brigitte Reuter and Rudi Ekkart.
Based on extensive archival research and interviews, the book tells the story of the Jewish Van den Bergh family, who were forced to sell the painting in order to go into hiding during World War II. Experts Eelke Muller, a former researcher at the NIOD Institute’s Expert Centre Restitution, and Annelies Kool, an advisor on WWII cultural property for the Dutch Cultural Heritage Agency, worked together to document this story.
The book was written in collaboration with German researchers Dorothee Hansen, Deputy Director and curator at the Kunsthalle Bremen and Brigitte Reuter, provenance researcher at the Kunsthalle Bremen.
Camille Pissarro (1830-1903), Girl in the Grass, 1882, oil on canvas, Kunsthalle Bremen – Der Kunstverein in Bremen
A Painting of Light with a Dark History
Girl in the Grass, painted with Pissarro's characteristic brushstrokes capturing light playing on grass, depicts a peaceful scene of a country girl on a sunlit landscape. This work may have offered some solace to art collector Jaap van den Bergh; he acquired it shortly after the German invasion of the Netherlands. In 1943, the family was forced to sell the painting in order to go into hiding. Jaap and Ellen van den Bergh survived the war, but their daughters, Rosemarie and Marianne, who were hidden elsewhere, were betrayed and killed.
A Search for Memory and Recognition
After the war, Jaap van den Bergh reported that the sale of his painting was made under duress, but his request for restitution was not processed. A 2016 digitisation project by the Origins Unknown Agency (no longer active), turned up the Van den Bergh family’s report. The detailed description in the document enabled researchers to locate the painting in the collection of the Kunsthalle Bremen. This post-war report provided the missing link in the provenance, which has been researched by the Kunsthalle Bremen since 2009, and set off the search for Jaap van den Bergh’s descendants.
A unique compensation agreement between the Kunsthalle Bremen – Der Kunstverein in Bremen and the heirs of the Van den Bergh family led to the temporary display of the painting at the Van Gogh Museum in the Netherlands. This agreement also furthered research into the family’s tragic history, which was supported by the Dutch Cultural Heritage Agency, the NIOD Institute’s Expert Centre Restitution and the Kunsthalle Bremen – Der Kunstverein in Bremen.
Book Launch: Girl in the Grass
The release of Girl in the Grass: The Tragic Fate of the Van den Bergh Family and the Search for a Painting offers a deeper look into the Van den Bergh family’s poignant story. The book not only recounts the search for the painting, but also reveals the enduring scars left by the war. The family’s third daughter, born after the liberation, only learned about the painting’s profound significance to her family in 2016.
Practical Information
Girl in the Grass will be on display at the Van Gogh Museum for four months, until 9 March 2025. The accompanying book is available through Waanders Publishers in both Dutch and English. The painting will be back in Bremen and officially presented to the press at the Kunsthalle Bremen on 3 April 2025.
For more information and press images, please contact: Youri Akkerman, pers@waanders.nl.