ROTTERDAM, 10 March 2026 – Museum Rotterdam has received a major new acquisition: a 1921 portrait of Rotterdam banker Willem Westerman by Jan Toorop. The work adds a new layer to the city’s story, linking art, financial history and Rotterdam heritage in a single image.
Who was Willem Westerman?
The portrait matters well beyond the art itself. Through Westerman, Museum Rotterdam can now tell a sharp Rotterdam story about ambition, risk, power and the fallout of financial crisis. Willem Westerman (1864–1935) was president-director of the Rotterdamsche Bankvereeniging, known as Robaver, then based on the Boompjes and an important predecessor of ABN AMRO. Under his leadership, the bank grew quickly, but his risky credit policy also helped drive the banking crisis of 1924, after which the national government had to intervene.
That makes Westerman a striking figure in Rotterdam history: a symbol of economic boldness, but also of how quickly financial confidence can crack when risk outruns restraint.
A portrait with national weight
Museum Rotterdam says the portrait is significant not only for the city collection, but also at national level. It captures Westerman in 1921, at the height of his power, three years before his forced departure in 1924.
For the museum, that timing gives the work unusual force. This is not just a portrait of a banker. It is a portrait of a man standing at a decisive moment in Dutch financial history.
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Why Jan Toorop matters here
Jan Toorop (1858–1928) is regarded as one of the most influential Dutch artists of his time. Born in the former Dutch East Indies and trained in the Netherlands, he developed a wide-ranging body of work that moved across symbolism, pointillism and realism.
In this later portrait, Museum Rotterdam sees a more psychologically charged approach. The result is not simply a likeness of Westerman, but an image that also reflects status, authority and the tension around a public figure whose role would later be viewed very differently.
Business, art and the Kröller-Müller circle
Westerman’s decision to commission Toorop fits the business and cultural circles he moved in. Through Robaver, he extended major credit to Wm. H. Müller & Co., the company of Anton Kröller.
At the same time, Kröller’s wife, Hélène Kröller-Müller, was building one of the Netherlands’ most important art collections, in which Toorop was strongly represented. Against that background, Museum Rotterdam says it is plausible that Westerman chose a painter from that same cultural orbit.
A rare ensemble in its original frame
What makes the acquisition even more special is that the portrait, a work on paper, has survived in its original late Jugendstil frame. Together, museum staff describe the work and frame as a rare ensemble.
That gives the object added value as material heritage. You are looking not only at an image, but at a complete historical presentation that has remained intact.
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A Rotterdam story with present-day echoes
Museum Rotterdam curator Liesbeth van der Zeeuw says the portrait creates an opening to talk about the role of a Rotterdam banker in the national banking crisis of 1924.
“It is not only a powerful portrait of an influential banker, but also a key object for talking about responsibility and power, and their impact on society,” she says.
Since the banking crisis of 1924, the Netherlands has lived through several more financial crises. That gives this acquisition a contemporary edge too. The museum can use it to tell a story that is historical, but still feels very current in a city shaped by commerce, risk and reinvention.
A future place in the new city museum
Museum Rotterdam says the portrait of Willem Westerman will take an important place in the collection and in future presentations. Together with the Municipality of Rotterdam, the museum has already secured a permanent location at Het Steiger for its future city museum.
That means this acquisition is also part of a larger shift. As Museum Rotterdam works towards a new home, objects like this help define what that next chapter will be: a museum rooted in Rotterdam’s past, but clearly speaking to the present.
How to get there
