Joseph Beuys

Frits Bless, Apeldoorn

Acquired from the above by the present owner

“The most important events? I have found the circumstances in which I grew up to be the most imperative for my life. For example, it is of crucial importance that I grew up there, along the border at the Lower Rhine - surrounded by the whole mentality of the area. This mentality does not end at the border, of course, but influences from the other side of the border are also present here. I went to school with children who lived in Nijmegen, Groesbeek, Beek and the surrounding villages. Thus, as a child I already had to deal with this mentality, the spirit that lives in this region. In my opinion, that is very decisive for my further development. And you must also consider that my paternal ancestors were Dutch. My great-grandfather came from Groningen and subsequently moved to Arnhem. At home, they always spoke the flat local dialect.”

(Joseph Beuys cited in: Frits Bless, Joseph Beuys. Een Gesprek, Apeldoorn/Rotterdam, 1987, p. 11).

Joseph Beuys in conversation held in May 1978 with Frits Bless (former Director of the Van Reekum Museum), talking about the importance of having grown up in the Lower Rhine region in proximity to the Dutch border. It must have been in this context that Bless acquired the present work.