Two boys from Katendrecht (2017) Dolf Henkes

Dolf Henkes drew and painted since childhood (Rotterdam, 1903 - Rotterdam, 1989). He grew up in the harbor area of ​​Katendrecht and sailed from 1926 to 1928. After that, art was increasingly attractive. He got his first exhibition in London in 1929, three years later he took the step to establish himself as an artist independently. From 1935 to 1937 he lived in Paris, the epicenter of art. But when the war started, he returned to Katendrecht - almost forever. In 1940 he moved into a house at 92a Veerlaan with his family. The war "awakened him to color", he says later, and he continued to paint color, with strange overflowing hues. His work has an expressive, 'loose' style in an unmistakable handwriting and sometimes remarkable techniques. In 1944 he drew the devastation of the war in Rotterdam. After the war he continued to travel and his fame grew. Not only as an artist, but also because of his quarrel with the underworld, he made the papers. Because in 1956, a brothel opened next to his house on Veerlaan, where he then lives with his brother and two sisters. After a stabbing incident, in which Dolf stabbed an attacker of his brother, he was given a suspended prison sentence of four months and was not allowed to visit Katendrecht for two years. After that, he would continue to live in Katendrecht until his death, to which he had pledged his heart. You can see that in his paintings: a lot of Rotterdam, the river, harbor, boats in the fog. But also portraits, human figures, clowns, still lifes, sometimes a religious theme. He practiced his own graphic and realistic style of hard lines and lyrical colors. Henkes was one of the most famous Cape painters, together with Wally Elenbaas and Daan van Golden. When he was 85 years old, he died in the house on Veerlaan with his beloved view over the Maas. Nowadays, the Dolf Henkel Prize is awarded every two years in his name to an unconventional artist.