Nol Kroes (1918-1976)

Nol Kroes was born in 1918. His father died when he was fourteen. As the oldest of three brothers Nol was obliged to leave school and start working to support his family. As a child he had always drawn, but only started to paint seriously after he married his first wife in 1940. That year Nol took his first drawing-lessons from W.E. Cox. When de Second World War started he fought in the Dutch army. After the Germans occupied Holland Nol was a prisoner of war and in 1943 transported to Germany only to return after the liberation in 1945. From 1942 and intermittenlty until 1953 he attended classes at the Royal Academy of Art in The Hague. In 1947 he divorced his wife and went to Paris to take drawing lessons from André Lothe in his famous international studio. After his return to Holland in 1948 he had his first exhibition in the Martinus Liernur art galery in The Hague. In 1949 he became a member of the well-known artists’ association Pulchri-Studio in the same city. He married his second wife in 1950, this marriage lasted for twelve years. From this marriage were born Anjuscha in 1956 and Kim in 1960. In 1966 he married for the third time and raised two children, Juan and Petrouchka.