Anna Boch
Belgian painter
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Anna-Rosalie Boch (10 February 1848 – 25 February 1936), known as Anna, was a Belgian painter, art collector, and the only female member of the artistic group, Les XX.[1]
Anna Boch | |
|---|---|
Portrait photo of Anna Boch (before 1900) | |
| Born | 10 February 1848 Saint-Vaast, Belgium |
| Died | 25 February 1936 (aged 88) Ixelles, Belgium |
| Known for | Painting |
| Movement | Pointillism, Impressionism |
Boch's family was involved in art in different ways. Her father, Frédéric Victor Boch, was a successful manufacturer of porcelain; her brother, Eugène Boch, was a painter, and her cousin, Octave Maus, was an art critic.[1][2]
Artistic style
Boch participated in the Neo-Impressionist movement. Her early works used a Pointillist technique, but she is best known for her Impressionist style which she adopted for most of her career. A pupil of Isidore Verheyden, she was influenced by Théo van Rysselberghe whom she met in the artistic group, Les XX.[citation needed]
Collecting
Boch actively collected works of art by her contemporaries. She assembled a major collection of Post-Impressionist paintings, which included works by Paul Gauguin, Paul Signac, James Ensor, and Vincent van Gogh.[2][1][3] She promoted many young artists, including Van Gogh, whom she admired for his talent and who was a friend of her brother Eugène Boch. La Vigne Rouge (The Red Vineyard),[4] purchased by Anna Boch, is believed to be the only painting Van Gogh sold during his lifetime.[5] The Anna Boch collection was sold after her death. In her will, she donated the money to pay for the retirement of poor artist friends.[citation needed]
Legacy
140 of her own paintings were left to her godchild, Ida van Haelewijn, the daughter of her gardener. Many of these paintings show Ida van Haelewijn as a little girl in the garden. In 1968, these 140 paintings were purchased by her great nephew Luitwin von Boch, the CEO of Villeroy & Boch Ceramics. The paintings remained in the house of Ida van Haelewijn until her death in 1992. The Anna & Eugène Boch Expo opened 30 March 2011.[6]
Some paintings were also donated by Anna Boch's estate to various museums like the Royal Museums of Fine Arts of Belgium.[7]
Exhibitions about her life and work have been held at the Royal Museum of Mariemont at Morlanwelz, between October at December 2000, at the Vincent van Gogh-huis in Hoogeveen in 2010 and at the Mu.ZEE in Ostend in 2023.[8]
In 2025, some of Boch's paintings were included in the 'Radical Harmony: Helene Kröller-Müller's Neo-Impressionists' exhibition at the National Gallery, London.[9]
Cultural heritage
In 2005, the Belgian historian Dr Therèse Thomas published a catalogue raisonné.[10]
Gallery
Die Wasserträgerin, 33 x 25 cm.
Sur la côte de la Mer du Nord, (1887) 53 x 91 cm.
Femme lisant dans un massif de rhododendrons, (around 1900) 67 x 106 cm.
Vue de Veere, Zélande, (around 1906) 38,5 x 53,5 cm.
Pendant l'élévation, (1879) 74.5 x 113 cm.
Rivages de Bretagne, (around 1901)
Falaise - Côte de Bretagne, 62 x 84 cm.
En Juin, (1894)
Retour de la messe par les dunes.[11]
