BART VAN DER LECK (Utrecht 1876–Blaricum 1958) was and is the least known of the de Stijl artists. An aloof man of strong opinions during his long life, Van der Leck kept his distance from the artistic world of his time. He had a few close friends and seldom invited new relationships. Except for his years of study in Amsterdam, he lived outside the main cultural centers of the Netherlands. He almost never contributed to group exhibitions, and his one-man shows have been rare events, three or four scattered over five decades. His work was hardly seen abroad during his lifetime, and a major