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Lot Essay
Girl with flute and goat is the first painting that belongs to a small group of large and monumental paintings Bart van der Leck executed just after World War II. Van der Leck started this painting in 1944 and finished in 1945. Soon it was followed by The Reaper (1946-1952), Mother and Child, Woman with Aeroplane (1956) and The Haymakers. Although still faithful to the elementary colours red, blue, yellow, black and white, which he used since 1917, he gave the colours in these paintings a new intensity, which Oxenaar (Oxenaar, op.cit) typifies as "agressive" and more severe in composition and organisation. In 1956 W.C. Feltkamp - a cousin of H.P. Bremmer, Van der Leck's lifelong patron - published the first biography of the artist. Feltkamp is extremely enthousiastic about the work and observes:'In the midst of the confusion of war, Van der Leck was able to find the peace and concentration to finish his masterpiece The girl with the goat (1945). The title is modest: one could also have called it Joy of spring-time and it would not even have been exaggerated to baptize this painting The new life(...). The extraordinary thing here is that through his colour squares Van der Leck keeps his images two-dimensional and adapts them to his plane while giving the suggestion of space without perspective, which is particularly visible in the arms of the girl.(...) The use of colour is sparce, most squares are pale grey, dark grey and black but in between the colour radiates fierce and warm. How often one sees paintings which make a greyish impression in spite of the colours used. Here, the blues, yellow and reds applied in the right area give a twinkling and a joy which is not only of sensual nature but gives, beyond that, a sensation of higher harmony and joyful peace. One has only to see for oneself the sparkle of colours in the leaves in order to ascert that none of the words used here are exaggerated or exaltated but that they are nothing but a poor description of true extraordinary qualities.'
H.P. Bremmer was not the first owner of the painting. After his wife died in 1945 Bremmer ended the financial help to Van der Leck. He was convinced that Van der Leck had found enough recognition for his work and could stand on his own. Van der Leck, who had been very grateful for Bremmer's help, was indeed able to sell some important works directly from his studio. He sold Girl with flute and goat for 4500 Dutch Guilders to E.F. Bouwman in 1945. When in 1948 Bouwman had financial problems he gave the painting in pledge for 5000 Dutch Guilders to Bremmer. In 1951 he had not been able to pay his debt and the painting became Bremmer's property. Bremmer was extremely fond of the work and in 1959, just before he died, his son wrote to Bart van der Leck that Girl with flute and goat was hanging opposite his bed. Although he could hardly speak anymore, he opened the curtains from time to time to have better light on the painting. After H.P. Bremmer's death his son Rudolph inherited the painting. (see Hilhorst, op.cit., p.13)
H.P. Bremmer was not the first owner of the painting. After his wife died in 1945 Bremmer ended the financial help to Van der Leck. He was convinced that Van der Leck had found enough recognition for his work and could stand on his own. Van der Leck, who had been very grateful for Bremmer's help, was indeed able to sell some important works directly from his studio. He sold Girl with flute and goat for 4500 Dutch Guilders to E.F. Bouwman in 1945. When in 1948 Bouwman had financial problems he gave the painting in pledge for 5000 Dutch Guilders to Bremmer. In 1951 he had not been able to pay his debt and the painting became Bremmer's property. Bremmer was extremely fond of the work and in 1959, just before he died, his son wrote to Bart van der Leck that Girl with flute and goat was hanging opposite his bed. Although he could hardly speak anymore, he opened the curtains from time to time to have better light on the painting. After H.P. Bremmer's death his son Rudolph inherited the painting. (see Hilhorst, op.cit., p.13)