Hundreds of bags of clothing disappeared into the recycle bin, the rest into Zaphira’s attic. “She dressed herself in a graceful, un-Dutch way,” she explains. “From pieces from the fifties to the seventies – you can fill the Bijenkorf with them.”
The smallest room was the kitchen, says Zaphira. “We never thought about why it was so black and small there.” But when emptying the kitchen cupboards, they discover the storage spaces that their mother had manufactured herself. It turns out that there are double rooms against the walls and ceiling, filled to the brim with her own drawings, sketches and paintings. “We lifted one work after another; even large oil canvases.”
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Works of art
The works have survived the cooking fumes – “without proper extraction”. “They were on top of each other, without protection. A miracle,” says Zaphira. It turns out that it is very different work than they know from their mother. “Especially those oil portraits, where you really see the soul of the person. Those works came in so much, because that was really new for us.”
Lady in pink, Renée Stotijn. The text continues below the artworks.
Buildings near the Zuiderkerk, Renée Stotijn.
The sisters describe their mother as an “eccentric”, sometimes unreachable woman who was always very proud of them. “She made no concessions and was one hundred percent herself,” says Esmee. Stotijn and their father – violinist Dick Bor – had (officially) the first LAT relationship in the Netherlands. “As a child I thought that was terrible, and I wanted a normal family. Now I just think: gosh, how fantastic.” She often withdrew into her own world, Zaphira says. “Our mother was complicated. You often couldn’t quite get to her.”
daughters
Stotijn made the hidden works before she got breast cancer at the age of 32. “Contrary to what she had hoped, she came out of the operation with half a breast,” Esmee says. “Traumatic for someone who cared so much about aesthetics.” The collateral damage made working with her right arm nearly impossible. Oil canvases were no longer in it. “Sometimes I think that’s why she put the works away out of sheer panic. She wanted to keep them well, and not be confronted with what she could no longer do.”
Because preserving what is beautiful was important to their mother. She fought for the preservation of historic buildings, but also for her own belongings. “We were never allowed to sit at anything, because everything had to stay the way it was,” says Esmee. When the sisters used to get new clothes, they went straight into the closet. “Because they were too pretty to wear. That really suited her character. Beautiful things had to last forever.”
Renée Stotijn in 1962, by Jeroen Koning.
The sisters will never know for sure why their mother hid her art. But when it came out, they immediately knew the work had to go out into the world. Stotijn himself had not shown art to the outside world for years. Zaphira shares their mother’s work via a special Instagram account, and a Milanese curator appears to be among the enthusiastic followers. Stotin’s art is then exhibited in Italy, and later the Amsterdam Beurs van Berlage also knocks on the door. The exhibition Renée Stotijn – Hidden art revealed can be seen there from Saturday 26 June.
Berlage Fair
The sisters were allowed to put together the exhibition themselves. “For years we saw how everything stood still, because she was not practical and was in a dream world,” says Esmee. “Now that we have a free hand, there is finally recognition for the enormous talent she possessed.” Among other things, they go in search of who is portrayed in the works with the viewer. For many cityscapes, the right location in Amsterdam also has to be found.
Stotijn thus remains partly a mystery for her daughters. Although their bond was very close, Zaphira says. “We were able to discuss a lot, and we were able to experience art and music intensely together.” When she’s busy with her mother’s work, she seems to be looking over her shoulder. “One time I hear her grumble, of: ‘No, don’t touch it, let me do that’. The other time I hear a very enthusiastic voice, because she was always so proud of us.”
The exhibition can be seen in the Beurs van Berlage until September 19, 2021.
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