timeline

1931 born in Alkmaar
1949-1951 gardening school, Hoorn
1951-1952 agricultural work in France
1952-1956 Institute for Research in Plant Diseases, Wageningen
1953 "beginning of my life as an artist"
informal drawings and paintings
1956-1962 informal collages [read the section label]
1959-1963 white paintings [read the section label]
1960 wit is overdaad [= white is superabundance]
1960-1963 white objects
1961-1964 [revue] nul = 0
1961-1968 Institute for Applied Biological Research in Nature, Arnhem
1962 random objectivations [read the section label]
white, other editions and reprints in 1967, 1980 and 2012
'natura artis magistra', first sound work
participated in 'NUL', Stedelijk Museum, Amsterdam
1964 revue integration
1965 first experiments with language
'there are no contradictions'
1967 travels to Eastern Europe and Russia
1968 'argumentstellen'
1969 travels to Algeria, Sahara, Tunisia and Turkey
first psychedelic experiences
'die lust zur zerstörung ist zugleich eine schaffende lust'
'what is rational?'
1970 travels to Turkey, Iran, Afghanistan, India and the Seychelles
in Eschenau
the real works [read the section label]
1971 travels to Southern India and Ceylon
susanne
1972 'my poetry is the world'
chance and change [more information]
experiments with film and photography
1973 travels to Morocco, Rio de Oro, Mauretania and Senegal
'a random sample of the seeings of my beings'
chance fields
1974 travels to Nepal, India, Thailand and Laos
eschenau summer & temporary travelling press publications
'to be all ways to be'
1975 poésie actuelle
'here & everywhere'
'exposition complète de luang-prabang'
the poet in his poetry
1976 travels to India
'this & no thing'
1976-1978 documents of a stream
1978-2019 'the earth museum'
1978 travels to Sikkim
1979 film notes
16 dm²
das grosse rasenstück [read the section label]
1980 'werke 1954-1980', Groninger Museum
'gestern nicht kunst angefangen'
1981-1982 long stay on La Gomera
1982 'here' herman de vries declares La Gomera as a work of art
les très riches heures de herman de vries
travels to Morocco
1982-1989 natural relations [more information]
1983 film and publication 'belladonna'
1983 to present from earth [read the section label]
1984 mind moving
'die marokkanische sammlung'
travels to Senegal
1985-86 scottish diary, journal [read the section label]
1986-2018 die wiese | the meadow [with slideshow]
1989 das verschlossene paradies
'erfahrungsfelder'
human life
1990 (2012) land consolidation project Weerselo-Dulder [with slideshow]
1991-1995 integration. journal for mind-moving plants and culture
le témoin
1992 'terre, vie et poésie', Mouans-Sartoux
'the real works', Edinburgh
'remember gustav theodor fechner'
1993 botanical works
'ambulo ergo sum'
sanctuary Stuttgart [with slideshow]
1995 'physics & metaphysics are one'
1995-1997 tuindorpcollecties tilburg [with slideshow]
1996 'this'
1996-2007 'mesa'
1997 sanctuary Münster [with slideshow]
1997-1998 Watergoed, Weerribben (Overijssel)
1997-2008 (2011) 'trees museum', Wateringse Veld, The Hague [with slideshow]
1998 Oeuvre Award presented by the Netherlands Foundation for Fine Arts, Design and Architecture
1999 Digne-les-Bains
1999-2001 sanctuary zeewolde, Zeewolde (Woldstrand/Nuldernauw)
1999-2003 'bois sacré' and 'sanctuaire de roche rousse', Digne-les-Bains [with slideshow]
2001-2012 'traces & points' in Digne-les-Bains
2001 'philosophische bemerkungen'
2002 'wynfrith me caesit - herman me recreavit', Düsseldorf
'different & identic', Lausanne
2003-2005 'sacred space', created for the State of Sabotage territory in Baldrockistan (Australia)
2004-2005 'les fenêtres', in the Vallon de Descoure, Digne-les-Bains
2006 'spuren' in the Steigerwald [with slideshow] [app available]
2007-2010 steigerwald cosmology
2008 'bomenmuseum = tree museum, Wateringseveld, The Hague [with slideshow]
2009 'unity', Kröller Müller Museum, Otterlo
'all this here', Schloss Moyland and Kunsthalle Schweinfurt (2010)
2010 'es ist da', Mies van der Rohe Haus, Berlin
2010-2011 'gedenkstätte zwangsarbeiter schweinfurt', Schweinfurt/Oberndorf
2011 'i am', Kunstvereniging Diepenheim
2012-2024 three gardens for Diepenheim [with slideshow]
2013 'im winter auf dem grossen knetzberg • ein journal'
2014 'all' and 'no thing', Stedelijk Museum Schiedam and Ketelfactory, Schiedam
the water lilies, Kunstvereniging Diepenheim [with slideshow]
from the laguna of venice - a journal
'ZERO. Countdown to Tomorrow, 1950s-1960s', Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum, New York
'ZERO. Die internationale Kunstbewegung der 50er und 60er Jahre, Gropius Bau, Berlin
2015 'ZERO. Let us Explore the Stars', Stedelijk Museum, Amsterdam
herman de vries represented with 'to be all ways to be' The Netherlands at the Biennale Arte 2015, Venice
sanctuary natura mater, Lazaretto Vecchio, Venice
'basic values', Erasmus Huis, Jakarta. The exhibition travelled to Amsterdam and Sittard
2016 'sculptures trouvés', Ernst Barlach Haus, Hamburg
2014-2017 'le sommet des philosophes', project as part of the 'traces project' around Digne-les-Bains (Villard des Dourbes)
2017 sanctuary for HEART, Herning/DK
'chance & change', MUSAC, Léon (SP)
2019 'herman de vries. voor jullie voeten', Stedelijk Museum Alkmaar
'herman de vries – all all all : werke 1957–2019', Lindenau-Museum, Altenburg. Exhibition to accompany the awarding of the Gerhard-Altenbourg-Preis 2019
2020 'herman de vries. how green is the grass?', Georg Kolbe Museum, Berlin
2021 'sanctuarium eschenau', first sanctuarium in a private collection
2023 'sanctuary 'ödland', Fabrikschleichach (Steigerwald)
portrait herman de vries 2014

herman de vries in his studio, Eschenau
[photo Joana Schwender, Hassfurt (2014)]