The Foundation

The P. & N. de Boer Foundation celebrated its 50th anniversary in 2014, but the basis for the collection was laid decades before 1964. It was only after the death of his wife Nellie Pressburger in 1960 that Piet de Boer decided to retire after 40 years as an art dealer, and to transfer the collection of paintings and drawings that he had put together over more than two decades to a foundation that was named jointly after her.

Pieter de Boer (1894-1974), the eldest son of the historian Michael Georg de Boer (1867-1958) and Anna Dommering (1872-1928), initially studied zoology in Zürich and Amsterdam, but in 1919 he decided to abandon his studies and prepare instead for a career in the art trade. He attended lectures on art history given by Prof. W. Vogelsang in Utrecht and Prof. W. Martin in Leiden, and got a job with the framers J.S. Fetter & Co., who wanted to build up an art department.