Ben Viegers, oil on canvas, 40.5 x 50.5 cm

Ben Viegers, oil on canvas, 40.5 x 50.5 cm

North Weluws Museum

Westlands Museum

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Bernardus Petrus (Ben) Viegers ( The Hague , December 17 1886 – Nunspeet , October 8 1947 ) was a Dutch painter .

Viegers was born in The Hague in 1886, the son of coachman Petrus Jacobus Viegers and Johanna Engelina Hulzing. He learned to draw, mix paint, decorate, and paint in the workshop of his maternal grandfather, a coachbuilder. In the 1903-1904 academic year, he enrolled in the first-year class of the daytime program at the Academy of Fine Arts in The Hague. ^{[ 1 ]} Charles Dankmeijer (1861-1923) was his friend and mentor. ^{[ 1 ]} In 1907 he took part in an exhibition in Antwerp and in 1910 his works were shown at an exhibition in Batavia (Dutch East Indies). ^{[ 1 ]} From 1921 onwards he was a member of the Hague Art Circle. Viegers had a wide field of work, he painted and drew flower still lifes, bulb fields, landscapes, gardens, harbor scenes, interiors, seascapes, cityscapes, still lifes, beach scenes and winter landscapes. ^{[ 2 ]}

In 1938 he moved with his wife from The Hague to Nunspeet, where they lived in a neglected building on the Brinkersweg, which he renovated himself.

Together with his good friend Henk van Leeuwen from Oudewater he made a journey through Brittany (region) ; they painted in the town of Concarneau .

At the beginning of the World War II he lived in Castricum and later moved to Hilversum . In 1943 he returned to Nunspeet. ^{[ 3 ]}

Viegers was married to Josina Maria Jacobs. He died in October 1947 at the age of 60 in his hometown of Nunspeet. A street in this town is named after him.

In October 2014, the North Veluwe Museum opened in Nunspeet with an exhibition by Ben Viegers. The exhibition features 130 of Ben Viegers's works.