Aldo van Eyck (1918-1999), one of the most influential architects of the 20th century, had the luck to be able to spend a good part of his life as a young man in the culturally stimulating world of central Europe. He lived and studied at the Eidgenössische Technische Hochschule (ETH) in Zurich in the years between 1938 and 1946, where he met his partner (in business and life) Hannie Van Roojen (1918-2018) and became friends with i.a. Sigfried Giedion (author of Space Time and Architecture) and his wife Carola Giedion-Welcker, the influential art historian who was deeply immersed in modern art. It was through her that the Van Eycks met some of the main avantgarde artists of the pre- and post-war era.

"Often called “the power pair of Modernism,” the [Giedion-Welcker] couple moved to the Giedion family villa in Doldertal, Zurich in 1925, where they then created a community and important meeting-place for Modernist artists through frequent parties and social gatherings. Giedeon-Welcker was the primary facilitator of their social web, bringing a myriad of artists to the villa, some of which were Kurt Schwitters, Aldo Van Eyck, Fernand Léger, Antoine Pevsner, Franz Roh, Theo van Doesburg, Wassily Kandinsky, Alberto Giacometti, Jan Tschichold, Alvar Aalto, and Marcel Breuer. They were also close with eminent art historians of the time such as Albert Brinkmann, Alexander Dorner, and Christian Zervos. Her husband’s time at the Bauhaus also expanded their circle." (quoted from the online lemma of the Dictionary of Art Historians).

A significant number of the works in the present collection bear testimony to these new friends of the Van Eycks in the form of autograph dedications to them in their publications or in exhibition catalogues in which their art was included.

After their return to the Netherlands, Amsterdam, in 1946, and doubtlessly inspired by the world they had left behind, they soon found their way into the world of the newly formed group of artists that came to be known as COBRA. He became friends to Appel, Constant and Corneille, and actively took on their defence. He made layouts for two of the Cobra artists exhibitions, in Amsterdam (1949) and in Liège (1951).

Early on Aldo van Eyck saw the clear linkages between fine painting, sculpture, applied decoration and architecture. He retained a keen interest and involvement in all of the arts throughout his life, including the modern, classical and tribal arts and collaborated with artists like Karel Appel, Constant, Carel Visser and Shinkichi Tajiri on the designs of their exhibitions. And again, this resulted in many works with dedications by Cobra and other artists that show their lifelong friendships with both Van Eycks.