In partnership with the Natural History Museum in Rotterdam, the Vroman Foundation presents the exhibition Warm, Red, Wet and Sweet, Leo Vroman’s Blood. The visitors will be introduced to his warm personality, his fascination for the red fluid, his curiosity for all living things and his love for Tineke, his wife.
His prison camp diary with the lizard skin shows how he maintained his interest in biology even in the worst of times. His original drawings of the then unnamed Vroman-effect give us a glimpse into his ground-breaking research into blood clotting. Vroman’s more personal side is illustrated by objects such as a shell he found while walking on a beach.
The exhibition included some other projects. The exhibition was also accessible for the many visitors during the bustling Rotterdam Museum Night on the 2nd of March. On the 25th of April haematologist Moniek de Maat gave the first Vroman Talk at the Natural History Museum.
A small vial with some of Leo and Tineke Vroman’s ashes form part of this exhibition. The vial is now officially part of the Natural History Museum’s permanent collection. The associate director of the museum, Niels de Zwarte, thanked the two Vroman daughters with the following letter:
20 January 2020
Dear Geri and Peggy,
Last year, after completing the exhibition about Leo Vroman, we received a share of the ashes from Leo and Tineke from James and Noelle as a donation to our museum.
This week we officially included the ashes of Leo and Tineke in our collection, registered under number NMR999000150838. You will find 3 photos of this as an attachment.
Their mixed ashes will be respectfully preserved in our Natural History Museum Rotterdam. And with that also the warm memory of the exhibition – a personal highlight of my museal year of 2019.
Thank you for all your efforts for the exhibition Red, warm, sweet & wet. To bring the poet closer and let us know more about the scientist. I am grateful for this wonderful collaboration.
Leo and Tineke will literally and figuratively have a place in the museum for ever.
