Amsterdam Museum and Rijksmuseum jointly buy Carel Willink painting

Portrait of Rik (1976) depicts a history of gay emancipation in the Netherlands

The Amsterdam Museum and Rijksmuseum are jointly purchasing a work by Amsterdam painter Carel Willink. The painting Portrait of Rik from 1976 shows Rik van Dam, the life partner of Amsterdam publisher and writer Johan Polak. Willink portrayed Van Dam as a proud man at a time when gay emancipation was not yet a given in the Netherlands. The work allows the story of Amsterdam's queer emancipation to be told. This history is still underexposed in both museums. The purchase of the painting seals the very first joint acquisition by the Rijksmuseum and the Amsterdam Museum, made possible in part by the Friends Lottery, the Sylvia and Carel Willink Fund/Rijksmuseum Fund and Tertius Gallery.The portrait will be on display at the Amsterdam Museum on the Amstel from Thursday 17 April.

In addition to the painting, the Amsterdam Museum will also acquire the costume and ring used to portray Van Dam, and a photo album signed and described by Carel Willink. Judikje Kiers, director Amsterdam Museum: ''We are very pleased with Carel Willink's work. As a city museum, we focus on collecting and telling a diversity of stories, including lhbti+ histories in the city and country. This portrait depicts gay emancipation in a unique way and is important for the visibility and acceptance of lhbti+ perspectives in the Netherlands. It is therefore of added value to our collection.''

Portrait of Rik

In 1976, Amsterdam publisher and writer Johan Polak (1928-1992) commissioned Carel Willink to paint a portrait of his partner Rik van Dam (1950-2018). Rik sits on a garden bench with Villa Flevorama in the background, Polak's home in Muiderberg between 1962 and 1988 and a meeting place for Amsterdam gay men. Gerard Reve could often be found there and wrote his novel Dear Boys written. Van Dam is portrayed as a confident and proud man.

The Amsterdam Museum acquires the Angelo Litrico-costume and the scarab ring, which Rik is wearing in the painting. In addition, a photo album signed and described by Carel Willink, in which some 60 photos depict the entire creative process surrounding portraiture. Together, the portrait and the objects form a unique ensemble.

Johan Polak and Rik van Dam

Johan Polak was a publisher, writer and great book connoisseur. Polak grew up in a liberal Jewish family in Amsterdam. Together with Rob van Gennep, he founded the publishing house Polak & Van Gennep (Prinsengracht 820) in 1962. A few years later, Polak founded news centre Athenaeum on the Spui; from this the later bookshops were born. Polak published many essays on classical writers such as Herodotus, Plato and Vergillius, as well as on Oscar Wilde and Couperus.

Polak came out for his homosexual orientation in the 1960s and was among the first board members of the COC, the lhbti+ advocacy organisation in the Netherlands. For example, he was involved in the magazine on homosexuality Dialogue and was patron of the Society for Counternatural Literature with well-known members such as Gert Hekma, Theo van der Meer and Ab van der Steur.

Polak and Van Dam met in 1973, with Van Dam moving in with Polak the day after they met. Van Dam worked as a model for a moped brand and was adored by Polak. Mutual friend and poet Hans Warren wrote poetry about Van Dam: ''Was every sculptor/not in love with this perfect body?''

Carel Willink

Amsterdam painter Carel Willink (1900-1983) is one of the most important Dutch painters of the 20th century. He is the best-known painter of magical realism, although Willink himself preferred to speak of imaginary or fantastic realism. Willink lived almost all his life in Amsterdam, in the area around the Rijksmuseum, and took pictures of all kinds of houses and statues in his immediate surroundings, which he used in his paintings. In them, elements of reality were supplemented by his imagination. As a result, his works provide a special view of an imaginary 20th-century Amsterdam. Besides drawings, Willink's oeuvre comprises over 300 paintings, including a considerable number of self-portraits, portraits of his wives and friends, and commissioned portraits. The grand master of magical realism is known not only for his monumental, architectural settings and ominous cloudscapes, but also for his portraits of beer magnate Freddy Heineken and Queen Juliana, among others.

The painting Portrait of Rik (1976) and its objects are on display from 17 April to 1 June 2025 at Panorama Amsterdam: a living history, the Amsterdam Museum's permanent exhibition, Amstel 51. The purchase by the Rijksmuseum and the Amsterdam Museum was made possible in part by the Friends Lottery, the Sylvia and Carel Willink Fund/ Rijksmuseum Fund and Tertius Gallery.

Tertius van Oosthuyzen, director Tertius Gallery: "We discovered the ensemble of artwork and associated objects in a private collection and immediately recognised that it is not only a highly detailed painting by the hand of grandmaster Carel Willink; one of the most important Dutch painters of the 20th century, but that the iconic portrait for Amsterdam and the Netherlands also offers insight into a period of emancipation and uniquely depicts a common good as the only one of its kind in art history. We are proud that, together with the Rijksmuseum and the Amsterdam Museum, we have been able to contribute in making it possible for the painting to be on display from now on and included in the collections of both museums, as the first joint acquisition in history.''