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Harbour View of Rotterdam
‘On both banks of the river here…'
Your Heineken is the most tapped beer!
Piet Cottaar
1960-1973
paint on hardboard
h 130 x w 405 x d 5 cm
Back in the home port
Delft-born artist Piet Cottaar junior (1908-1984) worked in Rotterdam almost his entire life, and for the same employer at that. Piet was associated with the Heineken Brewery in the Oud-Crooswijk district as an advertising painter for close to 40 years. From 1942 onwards, he was a permanent employee and even had his own studio in the brewery attic.
Cottaar started out as a house and decorative painter, taking an evening course at the Rotterdam Art Academy. From 1935 onwards, he designed advertising displays and monumental paintings for lorries, interiors, and exterior walls for Heineken on a contract basis. He made paintings for cafés and restaurants, but also for self-service shops wanting to shutter their redundant shop windows with a cheerful Heineken panel. Dozens of works by him found their way to companies in the Rotterdam region. Cottaar thus had extensive exposure and all the residents knew his work.
Port panoramas
For his employer’s headquarters, Cottaar painted two enormous harbour panoramas measuring no less than four metres wide. This Harbour View of Rotterdam features a vista of the Maas River’s northern bank, with the harbour on the left and the Euromast and the entrance to the Maas Tunnel on the right. A steady stream of vessels crisscrosses the water. On the left two tugboats pull a large ship up the river, the Pilsland, with the letter H for Heineken and a glass of beer on its chimney. Below is the slogan ‘on both banks of the river here... Your Heineken is the most popular beer!’
Port city-Heineken city
In the other panorama, the same ship – also towed by two tugboats – enters the picture from the right. In this case, it is appropriately named the Dorstrecht (Thirst City, a play on the name of nearby Dordrecht). Two advertising aeroplanes pull a banner inscribed ‘Havenstad’ (Harbour City) and ‘Heinekenstad’ (Heineken City). In the foreground is the so-called Obertje (Waiter), which became famous in Ger Dorant’s Heineken advertising poster. In his painting of a Heineken restaurant, this ‘beer-glass-with-little-legs’ serves a couple dining.
Like father, like son
After retiring in 1973, Cottaar remained active as a painter, just like his father of the same name. Piet senior (1878 1950) was a self-taught artist, who became known for his classic flower still lifes. In addition to his advertising work, Piet junior painted old Dutch landscapes, many of which found their way to buyers in the United States through acquaintances at the Holland-America Line in Rotterdam.
Home port
In 1974, a year after Cottaar’s retirement, the Rotterdam Heineken Brewery closed its doors and moved its operations to Zoeterwoude. All the brewery buildings were demolished. The office building by architect Willem Kromhout remained standing, housing the Heineken Rotterdam administration department until the late 1990s. By then, it was cleared out and restored, to serve as business premises for many years. The port panoramas were eventually stored in the Heineken Collection’s depots. Yet the story has a happy ending. Thanks to the repurposing of the Kromhout building as a meeting spot and museum, this Cottaar has returned to its home port from 2022.