After 90 years, the portraits of married couple Cornelis 'Cees' Bergman and Elisabeth 'Betsy' Bergman-Cavalini have been temporarily reunited at the Mondrian House. They were painted by Piet Mondrian at the beginning of the 20th century.
Cees and Betsy Bergman ended up in two different private collections over time, but now temporarily back together at the museum in Amersfoort. In 1901, Cees Bergman (1867-1947) commissioned Mondrian to paint the portrait of his bride-to-be Betsy as a gift for their wedding. Cees Bergman was a successful coffee merchant, freemason, Sunday painter, friend and patron of Piet Mondrian. The two knew each other through Amsterdam's thriving art scene. Cees took painting lessons from Piet and, together with his sister Anna, bought over 20 works by the artist, including portraits of his family.
Betsy Bergman's portrait was discovered as an authentic Mondrian in 2018 during the valuation of an estate in Zandvoort. Important evidence that the work was indeed by Mondrian's hand formed a photo from the Netherlands Institute for Art History. This photo shows a roughly 29-year-old Piet Mondrian in front of an easel on which the portrait of Betsy Cavalini can be recognised. The photo originally came from the archive of Mondrian's close friend and fellow painter Simon Maris (1873-1935). The Fine Arts Foundation gave his archive to the RKD on long-term loan in 1998. Recently, this photograph also played a role in the discovery of a still life by Mondrian in the programme Between Art & Kitsch.
The portraits of married couple Bergman and other early works by Piet Mondrian (18 in total) will be on display at the Mondrian House from 14 March 2020. In the video below, Mondrian House host Ben Kleverwal provides additional explanation about this special painting: