Ben Viegers, oil painting, city view

Bernardus Petrus (Ben) Viegers (The Hague, December 17, 1886 – Nunspeet, October 8, 1947) was a Dutch painter. Viegers was born in The Hague in 1886 as the son of coachman Petrus Jacobus Viegers and Johanna Engelina Hulzing. He learned drawing, paint mixing, decorating, and painting in the workshop of his maternal grandfather, a coach builder. In the 1903-1904 academic year, he was enrolled in the first-class day course at the Academy of Fine Arts in The Hague.[1] Charles Dankmeijer (1861-1923) was his friend and teacher.[1] In 1907, he participated in an exhibition in Antwerp, and in 1910, works by his hand were on display at an exhibition in Batavia (Dutch East Indies).[1] From 1921, he was a member of the Haagse Kunstkring. Viegers had a broad range of work; he painted and drew flower still lifes, bulb fields, landscapes, gardens, harbor views, interiors, seascapes, cityscapes, still lifes, beach scenes, and winter landscapes.[2] In 1938, he moved with his wife from The Hague to Nunspeet, where they lived in a neglected building on Brinkersweg, which he renovated himself. Together with his good friend Henk van Leeuwen from Oudewater, he traveled through the Brittany region; among other places, they painted in the village of Concarneau. At the beginning of the Second World War, he lived in Castricum and later moved to Hilversum. In 1943, he returned to Nunspeet.[3] Viegers was married to Josina Maria Jacobs. He died in October 1947 at the age of 60 in his hometown of Nunspeet. A street in this town is named after him. In October 2014, the Noord-Veluws Museum in Nunspeet opened with an exhibition by Ben Viegers. The exhibition features 130 works by Ben Viegers.