Bridge in Maarssen, Utrecht

Willem van Leusden (1886-1974) was a Dutch painter, etcher and engraver who lived and worked most of his life in Maarssen. Van Leusden studied at the Royal Academy of Art in The Hague from 1902 to 1906 and at the Rijksacademie van Beeldende Kunsten in Amsterdam from 1907 to 1910.

For three years, Van Leusden received the royal grant for young artists. At first, he made realistic pictures, but later, via abstract work (in the tradition of De Stijl), he went on to make surrealist art.

He belonged to the core of surrealist artists active in Utrecht from 1930 to 1950. Van Leusden taught in Utrecht from 1916 to 1924 at the Kunstnijverheidsschool and later at the Avondschool voor Kunst en Industrieel Onderwijs. He was a member of Arti et Amicitiae in Amsterdam, of The Hague Art Society and an honorary member of Kunstliefde and De Luis. He was also an honorary member of the city of Utrecht.

On 25 September 2016 it was 130 years ago that Willem van Leusden was born in Utrecht. To commemorate the year of his birth, the Vechtstreek Museum organised an exhibition to show his beautiful etchings and some of his fantasy paintings as a guide along well-known and less well-known places in Maarssen and its surroundings. For many, it was a unique opportunity to see etchings from private collections that had not been shown before. This etching of the bridge in Maarssen was displayed during the exhibition and was on the cover of the catalogue.

At the age of 23, Van Leusden came to live in Maarssen, first on the Zandweg and for the rest of his life at Mariënhof on Diependaalsedijk, near the Vechtstreek Museum. He developed into a celebrated artist, famous for his etchings and appreciated for his versatile painting.