Martinus Jacob van Doorn (2 June 1905, Padang – 17 May 1940, Uccle) was a Dutch painter and graphic artist in the Expressionist style.

Biography

He was born in Indonesia. His family returned to the Netherlands when he was eight and settled in The Hague, where he attended the Hogere Burgerschool. During this time, he displayed his artistic abilities by making woodcuts of animals. In 1924, he began his studies at the Royal Academy of Art, graduating in 1928. He lived in Oegstgeest for a year, then moved to Rotterdam, where he met and married the pianist, Annie Vermeulen, known as "Akkie".Brief biography
@ Studio2000. He was influenced by the works of

Marc Chagall Marc Chagall; russian: link=no, Марк Заха́рович Шага́л ; be, Марк Захаравіч Шагал . (born Moishe Shagal; 28 March 1985) was a Russian-French artist. An early modernism, modernist, he was associated with se ...

and

Franz Marc Franz Moritz Wilhelm Marc (8 February 1880 – 4 March 1916) was a German painter and printmaker, one of the key figures of German Expressionism. He was a founding member of ''Der Blaue Reiter'' (The Blue Rider), a journal whose name later b ...

, experimenting with form and color, which he considered to be the primary conveyor of sentiment and feeling. For his subjects, he began with animals, Biblical scenes and peasants; later moving to vagabonds, circus performers and other people on the fringe of society. In his last paintings, death is a recurrent theme. In 1931, he was commissioned to provide the sets for ''La Boîte à Joujoux'', a ballet by

Claude Debussy (Achille) Claude Debussy (; 22 August 1862 – 25 March 1918) was a French composer. He is sometimes seen as the first Impressionist composer, although he vigorously rejected the term. He was among the most influential composers of the ...

. His first major exhibition came at the

Stedelijk Museum The Stedelijk Museum Amsterdam (; Municipal Museum Amsterdam), colloquially known as the Stedelijk, is a museum for modern art, contemporary art, and design located in Amsterdam, Netherlands.

in 1933. He was unable to earn a steady income entirely from his paintings, however, so he also worked as an illustrator; creating drawings for the works of

J. Slauerhoff Jan Jacob Slauerhoff (15 September 1898 – 5 October 1936), who published as J. Slauerhoff, was a Dutch poet and novelist. He is considered one of the most important Dutch language writers. Youth Slauerhoff attended HBS (secondary school) in Le ...

, Albert Helman, Antoon Coolen and

Martinus Nijhoff Martinus Nijhoff (20 April 1894, in The Hague – 26 January 1953, in The Hague) was a Dutch poet and essayist. He studied literature in Amsterdam and law in Utrecht. His debut was made in 1916 with his volume ''De wandelaar'' ("The wanderer"). F ...

, among others. That same year, he moved to Achterhoek, near the German border, and began to be depressed about the political situation. He could see that he would not be allowed to paint as he pleased under the

Nazis Nazism ( ; german: Nazismus), the common name in English for National Socialism (german: Nationalsozialismus, ), is the far-right totalitarian political ideology and practices associated with Adolf Hitler and the Nazi Party (NSDAP) in Na ...

. In 1938, as German troops made threatening maneuvers, he moved to Belgium. This was to no avail, however. In 1940, when the German army occupied Brussels, he and Akkie committed suicide.Biographical notes
@ Ruud van der Velden Kunst.

Selected paintings

File:Van Doorn Meisje met kalf.jpg, Young Woman with Calf File:Van Doorn Orpheus.jpg, Orpheus Plays for the Animals File:VanDoorn-Portraitt.png, Self-portrait File:Van Doorn Fortune.jpg, Fortune File:Van Doorn Vlaamse kermis.jpg, Flemish Kermesse

References

External links

More works by Van Doorn
@ Studio 2000. {{DEFAULTSORT:Doorn, Tinus van 1905 births 1940 deaths 20th-century Dutch painters Dutch male painters Dutch Expressionist painters Royal Academy of Art, The Hague alumni People from Padang Dutch illustrators Artists who died by suicide 1940 suicides Suicides in the Netherlands 20th-century Dutch male artists

Biography

Selected paintings

References

Further reading

External links