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IN THE HAGUE
Diana had studied painting at the Academy from
1941 to 1943 and had already spent some time in
Paris. As this was one of Johfra's long held dreams,
the two went to Paris together in 1947. They
discovered the Existentialists at Café de Flore in St.
Germain de Pres, visited le Dome in Montparnasse,
and took in the view of the city from Montmartre.
In this way, each summer became a time of
travel and discovery. In 1948, they went to Rome to
study its antiquities. In 1950, they went back to
Paris, where Johfra made a number of studies at the
Louvre, admiring the paintings of the old masters
and the Attic Greek scupture. In 1951, they returned
to Rome where Johfra intensified his study of
antiquity and experienced ‘his own personal
renaissance’. Particularly the fountains of Rome
became a major source of inspiration for him.
DRUMMELS
Meanwhile, back in the Hague, the two
continued to work on their painting. They took a
studio together on Prinsestraat and often worked
side by side. Despite the finely rendered copies of
antiquities in his Sketchbooks, Johfra’s paintings
pursued strange, surreal, and even humorous
themes. The ‘drummels’ made their appearance in
unending variety - bizarre, growing, organic forms
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PARIS - SPRING 2003
The year 1953 marked a turning point in their
lives, when Johfra and Diana became acquainted
with Cor Damme, a Dutch American who
commissioned esoteric illustrations from Johfra.
Through him, they became acquainted with the
Lectorium Rosicrucianum in Harlem. The two began
what Johfra called their 'apprenticeship' in the
study of Gnosticism, Hermeticism, Neo-Platonism
and other esoteric teachings.
During this time, Johfra illustrated a number of
esoteric texts printed by the Rosicrucians."These
were years of intense work,” he later reminisced,
“that occupied us totally. It was our society, our
world." (Symphonie Fantastique p. 89) In the end,
he would spend nine years at the Lectorium. Diana
would stay on, spending eleven years there. And, his
future wife Ellen spent a total of six.
UNLOADING DRUMMEL PAINTINGS
FOR AN EXHIBITION
All this time, Johfra and Diana continued to
paint and often exposed their work together.
Johfra’s surrealist works underwent a slow
metamorphosis as more and more classical motifs
began to appear: here some roman ruins in the
background, there an attic torso in the foreground.
In 1959, the two artists made a pilgrimmage to
Port Lligat in order to meet Salvador Dali. After
seeing their work, the Surrealist took the two
painters into his confidence, seriously discussing
painting. Afterwards, Johfra wrote a long account
of the event, reflecting on the nature of the artist in
his Journals. He also rendered a portrait of the
Surrealist in pen and ink.
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combining human and animal anatomy. Johfra

garnered a series of solo exhibitions at Galerie
Bennewitz in 1947 and 1948.

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