29 november 2021, Oscar van Gelderen
Ask an art collector... Fleur van Groningen
What do art lovers like? Where do they buy their art and, most importantly, what do they buy? Every Monday an enthusiast tells about his or her love for art in this section. This week: author and artist Fleur van Groningen (39).
What does art mean to you?
Art is self-expression and I find it especially interesting when it comes to expression of the higher self. I must have art – in its many forms – around me as inspiration and comfort, as a counterpart to these sometimes discouraging times, as an antidote to mistrust or pain.
Were you exposed to art while growing up?
My father, Flor Hermans, was a painter and violinist with Wannes van de Velde. He exhibited in gallery De Zwarte Panter, was part of the bustling biotope that developed around gallery owner Adriaan Raemdonck (as highlighted in the documentary ‘Ik schilder met schilders’). My mother, who is a hobby painter, was also friends with a number of those artists. Later I did my own research and opened myself to the contemporary, the new, the free.
Where do you read about the latest developments in the art world?
I read the art magazine The Art Couch and sometimes pick up on something on the radio or in the newspaper. When I come across art in novels – as recently in Christophe Ono-dit-Biot's Plonger – I find it exciting to look it up online and learn about it. Instagram is also a fun and easy way to meet artists.
Where do you prefer to look at art?
In a gallery or museum: I want to feel the work affect me. I don't like standing around a work of art with crowds of people, so if an exhibition is too crowded, I let it pass.
How often do you buy art each year?
Most of the paintings, etchings and sculptures I own were gifted to me. I like paintings the most, so unique work.
Where do you do your buying: in a gallery, at an art fair, at an auction or online?
I would rather go to a gallery: a fair or auction puts me off because of the suspected emphasis on money and rivalry, something that for me is irreconcilable with rapture and beauty.
Is it important that you and your partner always agree on a purchase?
In our house everything is done in mutual consultation. Seppe is sometimes a little more accommodating under the motto: happy wife, happy life. But shared enthusiasm is simply better.
Do you have a special relationship with any one gallery?
With De Zwarte Panter. In addition, I am very attracted to Gallery Sofie Van de Velde. And I regularly check the selection of Kristof De Clercq gallery, Galerie Zwart Huis, Galerie Geukens & De Vil and Schönfeld Gallery.
If you had an unlimited budget, whose work would you buy?
Mark Rothko. I would hang it in an empty room with only one chair.
Who are your favourite artists?
Jesse Willems makes ultramodern collages using old paper from magazines that his grandfather gave him – what a symbolism. They are fresh, quiet, strong compositions, sometimes tender, then with loud colours.
Martha Tuttle explores the territory between painting and sculpture. She works with subtle pigments on linen, silk and home-spun wool and combines this with stone, brass and metal. Her work is modest, but full of zest for life.
