Herman Brood painting added to national art collection

A painting by rock legend and artist Herman Brood has been added to the National Collection, placing Brood in the company of Dutch icons such as Rembrandt, Ferdinand Bol, Piet Mondriaan and Karel Appel.

“We believe that Herman Brood should be given more prestige as an icon of the twentieth century as an artist,” said the cultural heritage anency (RCE).

The untitled acrylic work, made with an ever-present injection syringe and paint rollers, features two men with a pistol. It has been hanging on the wall of the tax office in The Hague but was moved earlier this week to the RCE’s depot in Amersfoort, where it’s been given the name “rock-‘n-roll on canvas”.

The inclusion of the work in the 120,000-strong national collection is official recognition that Brood has contributed substantially to Dutch culture and history. The work will be preserved permenantly and can be lent to museums.

“Junkie who painted”

Rob Dupré, a friend of “The Never Be Clever” and “Saturday Night” singer who died in 2001, told broadcaster NOS that Brood would rise from the dead if he heard the news.

“In life, he was seen as a rock ‘n’ roll singer who worked as an artist. Others called him a junkie who painted. As if everyone could do what he did. This news is like winning gold at the Olympics,” said Dupré, who works to detect counterfeits attributed to the artist.

It’s thought the painting ended up in the tax office to pay off a debt. “He didn’t do receipts and that kind of civil matter,” Dupré said. “He painted five paintings and then spent them on alcohol, drugs and women. He wasn’t really businesslike.”

As to the painting now part of the Rijks collection, Dupré says: “Have you ever had an envelope from the Tax and Customs Administration?… He deliberately painted those two people’s sweaters in exactly the same colour.”

As for the gun? “Everyone would want to have that in their hand when you get a tax assessment, right?” Dupré told AD.

Great honour

“He would have thought this was a great honour,” Brood’s wife Xandra Brood told the AD, adding that she had to point out colours to him because the artist was colour-blind. “He worked very fast and made several paintings one after the other.”

She hopes the painting will eventually hang on the walls of Amsterdam’s Stedelijk Museum, his greatest wish.

This painting’s estimated value is 13,000 to 15,000 euros, but Dupré says that’s maybe gone up 50% since the painting became part of the national collection Thursday.

That inclusion, says Dupré, is official recognition of the artist’s craftsmanship. “He was much more than a side-working rock star. And that is now being recognised.”