"The brothers were also strong willed but only Guus, the younger son, succeeded in controlling his emotions and avoiding coming into conflict with Deterding, in order to reach his ultimate goal," wrote Joost Junker and Jan Luiten van Zandem in their history of the company.
[4] Guus was the "obvious candidate" to lead Royal Dutch Shell after Deterding was forced out in 1936, but instead he was passed over in favor of a compromise choice.
In 1932, they commissioned the noted French Fauvist Raoul Dufy to paint a portrait of the family on their horses, a work that now hangs in the Tate Collection in London.
Ans was a noted collector of modern art, advised by her uncle C. Frank Stoop, and donated to the Tate Collection a substantial portfolio that included works by Pablo Picasso, Henri Matisse, Amedeo Modigliani and Edgar Degas.
She purchased a Vincent van Gogh painting on paper in 1930 and it was sold at auction for 8.8 million British pounds in 1997 by a family trust.