An incredible collection of more than 250 art works by Dutch-born Rotorua artist Walter Bakkenes has been donated to the Rotorua Museum by his widow Dora.
Now in her 80s, Mrs Bakkenes has been looking for a suitable home where the significant collection of her late husband's work could be kept together and looked after for posterity.
She said she was keen to have the works cared for by a museum, and as her husband had such a strong connection with Rotorua, Rotorua Museum was the obvious choice.
The collection reflects the diverse range of experiences from Bakkenes' life and includes war sketches, abstract works, landscapes, portraits and reliefs. Even his art materials, which he was using until his death in 1986, are included in the collection.
Born in 1920, Bakkenes grew up in Amersfoort near Utrecht in The Netherlands. During the Second World War he, along with his father Drees, were taken to a labour camp in Steenderen.