Herman Heijenbrock

He returned to the Borinage to make sketches of the picturesque surroundings, but became depressed by the working conditions and the high amount of disease among the miners and their families.

He wrote a pamphlet called "Onze samenleving in woord en beeld" (Amsterdam, circa 1899) in which he explained his view on working conditions, though he felt that social democracy was not the answer.

In the Netherlands he mostly painted the harbours, but when World War I broke out he was confined to the Dutch borders and began to visit local industrial sites.

In 1921 he joined the board of the ‘Vereeniging voor Beeldende Kunsten Laren-Blaricum’, an artist collective that still exists today in Laren and Blaricum.

The Museum van den Arbeid was opened in 1929 and was situated in an old school located on the corner of the Marnixstraat at Rozengracht 224-226 in Amsterdam (torn down, the site is currently a fire station ).

In 1980 the name was changed to "Nederlands Instituut voor Nijverheid en Techniek" (NINT) and moved to the Tolstraat 127 (the former headquarters of the Royal Asscher Diamond Company).

He became known as 'de schilder van licht en arbeid' (the painter of light and work) and won many commissions for "portraits" of factories by leading Dutch businessmen.

[7][8] Heijenbrock's work was included in the 1939 exhibition and sale Onze Kunst van Heden (Our Art of Today) at the Rijksmuseum in Amsterdam.