Dutch painting collection after 1950
Following in the footsteps of Willem Sandberg (director of the Stedelijk Museum from 1945 to 1963) and his policy for the Stedelijk Museum Amsterdam, the city of Heerlen, led by mayor Van Grunsven and cabinet secretary Defesche, laid the foundations for the current art collection of SCHUNCK Museum in Heerlen with purchases of paintings by the CoBrA group and like-minded people. In the 1960s and 1970s, painting was overshadowed by the then avant-garde who, convinced that painting was an outdated medium, experimented with alternative media.
In the 1980s, painting experienced a revival. Regulations and conventions regarding subjects, imagery and style fell away. This freedom is also reflected in the way the painting collection continued to develop in the 1980s and 1990s. It also featured artists from the region. Ten years ago, a catch-up was made towards the continuous, historical lines of the collection. In 2014, it was decided to focus on the youngest generation of Dutch painters with the same movement.