'Onze pénétratie was sterker als jij in je laatste brief vermoedt'

In 1922 the artist Theo van Doesburg (1883-1931) met the architect Cornelis van Eesteren (1897-1988), who was nearly fourteen years his junior. They worked together from then on but, as their letters reveal, this did not always go easily. Their first joint project was in 1923, making designs for an exhibition in Paris. Van Eesteren later suggested in a number of French journals that Van Doesburg was merely a ‘collaborator’ in this project. ‘I realised then that there was no possibility of a proper creative partnership between us’, Van Doesburg wrote indignantly. Later letters show how the conflict was kept to a minimum.

Disputes kept on arising about the authorship of their designs and theoretical articles published by Van Doesburg, poisoning the relationship for good. Because of Van Doesburg’s tendency to feel opposed, not only by Van Eesteren, but also his former De Stijl colleagues, he was often extremely agitated. His anger could be calmed, however, by repeated attempts at reconciliation.

The correspondence between Van Doesburg and Van Eesteren documents a crucial period in Van Doesburg’s life, in which he became increasingly isolated. Nearly one hundred letters between the two men survive, which are published in Vol. 8 of RKD Sources, edited and introduced by Sjoerd van Faassen, associate researcher at the RKD, and the architectural historian Herman van Bergeijk.