Adriaan Korteweg

Personal

Vocation

Dutch painter, signific philosopher and theosophist. The Dutch name KorteWeg means short way (short-cut). He was born as the fourth of five children of the GP physician Cornelis Pieter Korteweg (Short-cut) and Cornelia Wilhelmina Laan (Lane). After the HBS, he studied architecture at the Technical University of Delft (1908). He collaborated with the architect Joseph Cuypers in the design of the he construction of the Amsterdam stock exchange. He did his exams, but broke off his studies in November 1912 in Amsterdam to fully dedicate himself to painting. First his work was heavily influenced by Vincent van Gogh, but soon he became fascinated by Wassily Kandinsky (1866 to 1944) and his book "Über das Geistige in der Kunst". He went end March 1913 to Munich to meet Der Blauwe Reiter (1911-14) artists involved. End March 1914 he returned to Amsterdam. He became a significant member of the theosophical society, but because of WW1 his connections with the him inspiring German artists were broken. He died 12 November 1917 in Madras,India. Link to Dutch Wikipedia