NARDUS VAN DE VEN - 'THE NEW VAN GOGH'

My Grandfather, Leonardus (Nardus) van de Ven, was regarded by art critics, collectors and art dealers to be 'The new Van Gogh'.  Born in Eindhoven, Holland he began painting in his thirties and was quite prolific during WWII, often bartering his art works for food and essentials for his nine children.   His earlier works were regarded as being  Naive art (i.e. see Henri Rousseau, Niko Pirosmani) and later Expressionist and even Surrealist.  His oil was applied thickly, and during the war when art materials were scarce he would paint on any army canvas found lying about and would often  'create' his own paint using shoe polish and other basic available ingredients.  He was illiterate as he never attended school, due to suffering from tuberculosis as a child.  He lost a lung in his early years from the TB, but still worked up to 15 hours a day for the Railways laying tracks (and he smoked like a train, there are not many photos of him without a smoke in his hand!, however he never drank alcohol in his life).  He mainly painted at night and would require little sleep.  His talent for the arts also branched into sculpture and his statuettes are fantastic pieces.

The reference to the works of  Van Gogh are no doubt borne from his use of light, texture and subject matter, often depicting the hard working lives of the Dutch people, especially during the war years.

Nardus was very interested in the works of Leonardo da Vinci and he even signed his name  with use of a mirror, on his completed canvas'.  He was a prolific self portraitist, again with the uses of mirrors, this is another facet of his art related to that of van Gogh's study material.

Nardus' works can be found in many museums throughout North Brabant., Netherlands.  The Van Bommel van Damme museum have quite a collection of his pieces.

Nardus van de Ven: born 1894; died 1957http://leonaarts.net/index.php?q=gallery&g2_itemId=28