http://www.fondationcustodia.fr/
On the occasion of the 50th anniversary of this little-known foundation, the Fondation Custodia has taken the initiative to show a broad selection from the collection in Paris, where the taste of the dealer and collector Piet de Boer — a contemporary of Frits Lugt (1884-1970) — and his extraordinary feeling for quality will be seen at its best. It is a selection from the harvest of more than forty years in the art market.
Twenty paintings will be on show, including a number of works by Mannerist artists like Hendrick Goltzius, Cornelis Cornelisz Van Haarlem, Cornelis Ketel and Joachim Wtewael. There will also be still lifes by Balthasar van der Ast, Ambrosius Bosschaert, Gottfried von Wedig and Frans Snijders, atmospheric landscapes by Joos de Momper, Roelandt Savery and Hendrick Avercamp and Arent Arentsz Cabel, a pastose Open Air Party by Esaias van de Velde and a charming close-up of a Rose, Mouse and Insects, attributed to Jan Brueghel the Elder.
A special room will be devoted to work by Vincent van Gogh: five drawings, among them the iconic Worn Out, represented by a figure in great despair and a large sheet of a Peasant Digging, created out of compassion for the lot of the poor farm labourer. There is also Moulin de Blute-fin, a coloured drawing from Van Gogh’s time in Paris. Among the paintings is the striking Wheatfield, rendered with splashes of colour in Arles in June 1888. Unlike many other dealers in old art, Piet de Boer had an affinity with contemporary art and showed great interest in classical modern artists. He considered Van Gogh to be the most important among them and succeeded in bringing together this interesting group of his works.