theeuropeantourholland

On the 12th., 13th. and 14th. of July Carl Barks paid a visit to the Netherlands. Of course the Dutch part of his tour started in Amsterdam. After a cruise through the canals of the city, the Good Duck-artist visited the National Museum, where one of his greatest wishes was fulfilled. Being a painter himself, Barks really wanted to see the works of the old Dutch masters and especially the paintings of Rembrandt, who, as Barks said himself, used the same colourscheme as he did. During a long time he admired the paintings, using his glasses as a magnifying-glass to see all the details.
'I never saw them myself', was Barks' comment, 'Yes, I did see the pictures of the work, but the size, the real colours and the way they are painted, that's really formidable. If you see this, you will understand that they needed a couple of years to finish it.'

The paintings of Rembrandt and Vermeer must still have been on his mind the next morning, when he visited the VNU-building in Haarlem, where the editorial office of the Dutch Donald Duck magazine is situated. With Mickey Mouse and Donald Duck as hosts, Barks went upstairs, where a selected group of artists and script-writers - including myself - was invited to meet the grand old Duckmaster. A nice detail was, that one of the invited artists, Harry Balm, had made a duck-version of the famous Nightwatch by Rembrandt. It should be made clear, that Barks was very interested in the work of Balm, but of course the work of the other Dutch duckmakers also had his full attention.

Unfortunately, the Master was not allowed to stand still very long at all the different exhibited pages, because of the short time the visit lasted. For us it was a pity that we couldn't talk any longer with the man who we admire so much, that the whole world faded away the moment we met him. That, at least, was the feeling I had, when I shook the hand of Mr. Barks. And, believe it or not, four days earlier, when I was in Paris to see his oil paintings, the same magic feeling came over me.

In Paris Barks had told me that the Dutch Donald Duck was the only foreign Disney-magazine that he received every week at home (of course I had brought an example of issue 28, which was full of his stories) and that he really was looking forward to meet the new Dutch generation of duck-makers. And even though he didn't say so, it must have been a pity for Barks too, that there was not much time for social talk.

One-and-a-half hour after Barks had arrived, it was time for the next part of his program; a visit to the Zaanse Schans. But Barks didn't leave before giving us a present: A full coloured picture of the duck, that he made so famous: Donald Duck. And of course we also had a (spontaneous) present for Mr. Barks: a rose, on behalf of all the big and small children in Holland, handed to him outside the VNU-building.
The 13th of July will be remembered forever in the annals of the Dutch duck-history, not only by the Dutch duck-makers, but also by Carl Barks. 'It's splendid!' was his comment on the exhibition of the Dutch duck-pages.

Something like that must also have gone through his mind, when he saw the mills of the Zaanse Schans that same afternoon. Until then he only knew them from the pictures in the National Geographic; Barks' most important research material. One of his later stories, Hero of the Dike, was placed at a location like this. 'Now I can finally see it with my own eyes', he said.

On the last day of his visit, Barks was invited to come to the Dutch television studios where he was interviewed for the Dutch show NOVA, a newsreel that made a ten minutes item of the visit of the Master, including his visit to the National Museum, filmed Tuesday.

After that, it was time for Barks to leave for the United Kingdoms; the last part of his European Tour. For us, in the Netherlands, a dream has come through. And still we hope there will come another day, where we will meet the man who made it all, the Good Duck-artist, the Master himself: Carl Barks!

Frank Jonker