ROB VAN ASSEN drew and painted already from the age of 6. „Many horses and ships and occasionally a bird”, remembered the autodidact, who was born in the same town (Leiden) as Rembrandt van Rijn at the 20th of December 1944. „My father also painted and he taught me the basics.” Rob would like to become a painter of advertisements, but the Academy of Art in The Hague refused to admit him. „At the time, there were some strange opinions on art. Therefore I taught myself the more sophisticated techniques of painting.” In 1965, the Museum of Natural History in Leiden, which was the predecessor of the current Naturalis, took him on as a taxidermist; an excellent job to get to know the anatomy of animals. During this time he made moulds of dolphins and fish which are still hanging on the wall at the museum. „After a while they also got to know that I could draw and paint and, as a result, I was allowed to make scientific illustrations.”

In 1970, Van Assen, particularly fascinated by whales, becomes involved in the dissection of a sperm whale, which was washed ashore. The nearly 17 meter long and at least 57 year old colossus landed at the Spijkerplaat in the Westerschelde on the 3th of January 1970 and was dragged to Breskens. After this smelly job, the still unmarried Rob moved to the isle of Terschelling where he opened his own little museum: Diorama Klein Terschelling. In 1975, he decided to move back to the main land and became model-builder in the Museon in The Hague. Four years later, on the 15th of December, Van Assen is again involved in the dissection of a sperm whale. This mammal was washed ashore between Castricum and Egmond during a storm. The reconstruction and stuffing of the mammal took up nearly one year and the result can still be admired at the entrance of the Museon.

Rob van Assen dissects in total five sperm whales and his increased knowledge about anatomy comes in very useful for the artist. Between 1987 and 1990, he immortalized the history of the Dutch Whalers by making a series of 55 oil paintings about this subject. In 2004, Museum Gribus at Schiermonnikoog buys the whole series for a permanent exhibition. Van Assen’s passion and interest for sea mammals result in an other exploit; Van Assen decides, after years of research of the 75 known sea mammals, to paint them in their habitat. Between 1988 and 1993, a series of 99 paintings about these mammals are being painted, which are exhibited, for the first time, at Diergaarde Blijdorp (Rotterdam Zoo). Connoisseurs are impressed by this achievement and dolphinarium’s in the Netherlands, Germany, Belgium and Finland ask him to make wall-paintings of whales. Specialists of Naturalis and the Coastal Union (EUCC) label the so-called “ocean collection” as fairly scientifically founded. In 2004, the unique collection comes into the possession of Peter Zuidhoek, owner of the virtual gallery www.artboutique.nl, who wants to keep the collection together. In 2006, Naturalis buys 42 paintings of whales, who are painted by Van Assen in a scientific way (not in their habitat) during the seventies as a preparation for the so called ocean-collection.

For the Museon in The Hague, Van Assen has made particular objects such as the reconstruction of man-apes and dolphins. In January 2004, he starts with the reconstruction of a Andrewsarchus, a one-meter long pre-historical animal that is related to the wolf, bear and hyena. At the end of that same year, the gifted craftsman retires. The painter of Voorschoten also enjoys a reputation as illustrator. His first drawing appears in the French magazine Science et Nature, in 1970. This was only the beginning as over the years, his drawings appeared in German, Spanish, English and Dutch (amongst which Elsevier and Kijk) magazines. He also makes illustrations for books, such as the Kleine Winkler Prins’ encyclopaedia and Elsevier’s mammal guide.

Van Assen exhibits his paintings not only in Rotterdam Zoo, but also in museums in Scheveningen, Kijkduin, Katwijk and Amsterdam. The many-sided artist paints namely, apart from animals (birds of prey and whales), also seascapes (also with ships), still-lives and occasionally a portrait. He preferably depicts water, which is one of the most difficult subjects to paint, on canvas or masoniet. Van Assen learned his skills by practising painting a lot. „It is a matter of practising and looking at others. My examples are romantic painters of the nineteenth century such as Koekoek, Schelfhout, Leickert, Springer and Kruseman. I could have been one of them. If I had lived at that time I would have been immortal now. In fact, I am born 150 years to late.”