Saar de Swart

She became the patron of a group of artists connected with the innovative periodical De Nieuwe Gids. In autumn 1889, De Swart and her then girlfriend Baukje van Mesdag moved to Paris. Immersed as they were in the artistic milieu of that city, they met artists like Auguste Rodin, Vincent van Gogh, Émile Bernard and Odilon Redon. Upon her return to the Netherlands, De Swart got down to work on new designs for ’t Binnenhuis, an arts and crafts shop. She also showed her own work – small carvings of animals and other figures – at various sales exhibitions, and collected modern art at her home in Laren. In 1914, De Swart and her last life partner, the artist Emilie van Kerckhoff, moved to Italy permanently.