During exhibitions, Museum Valkenburg highlights a specific work together with the artist or art connoisseurs, this time Jan Hanlo, Liefde en Tragiek.
In addition to poems, Jan Hanlo also wrote hundreds of letters on a wide range of subjects. They often contain opinions and thoughts about existence, about love and about religious themes. They were published in 1989 in two parts “Letters” of a total of more than 1400 pages. In 1971 the letters “Go to the Mosk” appeared in 1969 from Morocco. In those letters, his love for twelve-year-old Mohamed, who he wanted to give a future to, was placed in a Dutch family. In 1972, “Without luck, nobody falls off the roof,” the report of the psychosis he had experienced in 1947.
Jan Hanlo died in a tragic way. On Saturday, June 14, 1969, during a catch-up maneuver, he collided with his motorcycle at Rasberg in Berg and Terblijt with an agricultural tractor. Although his injuries seemed not too bad, he died two days later in the hospital in Maastricht, only 57 years old. His biography, written by Hans Renders, was published in 1998 under the title “This is how I believe you are”, taken from one of his best-known poems.
The exhibition “Jan Hanlo hep het gemaakt” can be seen until August 25, 2019, click HERE for more information.
