Harm Kamerlingh Onnes - toegeschreven aan, Gezicht op een dorp met op een heuvel met en regenboog - Sold

Harm Kamerling Onnes grew up in an artistic and intellectual environment. He was a fine pianist, a talent he inherited from his musical mother. His father Menso was a gifted painter of tranquil flower still lifes. Harm's aunt married the famous painter Floris Verster. Harm Kamerlingh Onnes also had a good relationship with uncle Heike Kamerling Onnes, a well-known physicist and winner of the Nobel Prize. Through his uncle, Harm became acquainted with other famous scientists such as Albert Einstein and Paul Ehrenfest, with whom he would even form a musical trio. So it was no coincidence that Harm Kamerlingh Onnes devoted himself to painting after high school. His early works appear naturalistic; the still lifes and landscapes are very reminiscent of those of his father and uncle Floris. However, the young artist was open to the latest developments in painting. In 1916 Harm Kamerlingh Onnes met a colleague Theo van Doesburg, well-known artist of 'De Stijl' and founder of the Leiden art society 'De Sphinx'. Under his influence, Harm began to simplify and stylize his images. In addition, he incorporated pointillism in his work by placing block-shaped desserts on the canvas. From the 1920s, Harm Kamerlingh Onnes gradually abandoned the stylized method of painting. He shifted his interest to people, who are increasingly visible. After the Second World War, he continued on the same path. While many colleagues started painting abstractly, Harm Kamerlingh Onnes continued to work realistically. He preferred petty-bourgeois, everyday subjects with a humorous undertone. Like no other he could portray a character with a witticism; for example, the village pastor, a married couple or the local hairdresser. The wealthy painter did not have to live off his work. He no longer experimented in his later period. In his own words, he made 'only what he himself liked'. Harm Kamerlingh Onnes also designed stained glass windows, was involved in interior design and was good at working with ceramics. Kamerlingh Onnes was a member of many organizations, including Pulchri Studio Den Haag, De Stijl and Arti et Amicitiae in Amsterdam. Work by Harm Kamerlingh Onnes can be found in the Gemeentemuseum Arnhem and the Municipal Museum De Lakenhal in Leiden, among others.