Promotional photo (source UA) from around 1965 (edited by granddaughter and mixed with privately owned work).

Wim (Wilhelmus) Hagemans

was born on November 2, 1922 in Hoograven, then part of the municipality of Jutphaas.
Wim passed away on January 9, 2009.

Wim Hagemans was an artist from Utrecht, who was fascinated by poetry at an early age, wrote songs, played the guitar and aspired to a career as a poet / comedian.
He himself wrote about his calling as a poet:
"I learned the first poem from the facade of the orphanage in the Agnietenstraat."

"Ter Duys ten laatste telg, Renswoude ‘sed’ le vrouw
Schonk Utrecht kinder huis dit treffelijk gebouw
Om de ouderloze jeugd in kunsten te onderwijzen."

'Half understood, but still affected by rhyme and rhythm.

The Second World War threw a lot of spanner in the works, but Wim did not let that stop him. As a teenager he stood on the bridges of the canals, singing and playing a tune with friends. They called themselves "De Robbedoezen."
During his internment camp and forced labour periods (1941 - 1945), in Berlin and Hannover amongst others, he gained inspiration for his later cabaret period.

Wim went to war as a teenager, and came out as a man. When the war was over and Wim did not yet know whether home still existed, he went to play for the soldiers, the Tommy's or the Amie's, he called them.

Just after the liberation of the camp, where he met his first wife. And after returning to the Netherlands, he formed the duo 'De Robbedoezen' with her. World famous in Utrecht and the surrounding areas. For 10 years they have been part of various cabaret troupes, including 'De Rode Rakkers'. After the divorce of his first wife and the introduction to his second wife, "De Robbedoezen" were done.

When he became seriously ill, was obliged to rest, and was bored to death, he got brushes and paper to distract him, and without realizing it, he grew into a painter.

His last exhibition was in 2005. He also remained a poet until shortly before his death. He has published 41 poetry collections in-house.

Through this website we want to pay tribute to Wim Hagemans and take visitors on a quest through the simple life of Wim Hagemans. That actually wasn't simple at all, enventhough Wim gave the impression that it was.

We have a lot of material at our disposal: from photos to program sheets of the Robbedoezen; photos of Wim and photos shot by Wim; many letters from Wim to his mother and letters from friends, family and acquaintances to Wim, while he was in different camps. Wim saved (almost) everything and, perhaps because of that, donated a part to various museums.

To digitise everything is quite a chore. But a very nice job.
Selecting the paintings and photos is not that difficult. The oohs and ahhs continue to slip away and when we recognize a location we also have our own story. Selecting his written texts, 41 poetry collections, various folders with handwritten texts; the UA also has handwritten letters and reports; you have to read it all and / or retype it. Wim writes about anything and everything, peppered with quibbles and I regularly have to laugh out loud. It's a joyfull burden.

Methaan

Door de mogelijkheid methaangas te maken uit

fecaliën wordt het in de toekomst mogelijk uw voedsel te

bereiden op uw eigen kak.

The website is not ready. We still need a while. Maybe more than a year.
But we still want to start.
The page will be refreshed at least every two weeks. We will find out how we can keep interested parties informed of the new placements on the website.

We hope that you, just like us, will be fascinated by the simple, special life of Wim Hagemans.

Frans, Chris and Den