Dutch American artist Anton van Dalen, who established himself as a regular in New York's Lower East Side during the post-war period with his 'Birdhouse' series of paintings, passed away on Tuesday, June 25. He was 86.
According to a PPOW spokesperson for his gallery, he died of natural causes in his sleep.
In a statement, the PPOW gallery said, "It is with great sadness that we announce the passing of Anton van Dalen."
His PPOW biography showed that he was born in Amstelveen, Netherlands, on November 11, 1938, to a conservative Calvinist family.
Van Dalen completed his studies in 1954 at the esteemed Amsterdamse Grafische School, which focused on printing and graphic arts. During World War II, his family fled the Netherlands for Canada, and he finally made his home in New York City in the early 1960s.
He was a talented artist, a teacher at the School of Visual Arts in New York, and an assistant to the late artist Saul Steinberg of the New Yorker.
The gallery said that from his earliest days, arriving from Holland and settling into the Lower East Side of Manhattan, he contributed to establishing a conversation about how art can be used to support social movements and unrepresented minorities.
Furthermore, he is known for his detailed, often fantastical cityscapes filled with wildlife and birds. He raised his pigeons in a coop built on the top of his East Village apartment in 2023, as these birds held special value for him.
Van Dalen shared that the pigeons have been his companions since childhood and became the subject of his work over time. He added that he goes up on his roof in the late afternoon and brings them their food, some time with them, and fresh water.
