Hein Leemhuis artwork • painting • previously for sale A farmhouse, Groningen

The Ploeg painter Hein Leemhuis attended Wednesday and Saturday afternoon classes at the Minerva Academy at a very young age and soon came into contact with painters such as George Martens and Johan Dijkstra. However, his career was initially far from artistic: he was one of the founders of grocery chain De Spar. It was not until he was forty that Leemhuis resumed painting and was admitted as a member of De Ploeg. In the war years that followed, his house was an important gathering point for the members. He was also secretary of the association from 1939. In addition to landscapes and figures, Leemhuis made many colourful and expressive flower still lifes, a genre that is rarely seen within De Ploeg.