The Napi and Helen Van Dereck Collection

This exhibition features artworks from the collection of Napi and Helen Van Dereck.

Napi passed away on Christmas Day, 2019 and Helen on January 29, 2025. This exhibition is the fifth installment as we honor Helen for her commitment to the Provincetown community, their legacy and the depth of this important collection. According to Napi, every picture has a story—the scenes of Town represent “the way it used to was”. Each artwork was carefully selected for a personal reason and he could tell you, in detail, the back story. Some of Provincetown’s most iconic vantage points and significant pieces of history are represented by artists such as Gerrit Beneker, Marion Campbell Hawthorne, Tod Lindenmuth, Henrietta Dunn Mears, Liliian Meeser, Frank Milby, and Kathi Smith among others. We are so grateful to Helen for allowing PAAM to exhibit this unprecedented collection over the past six years, and I would personally like to thank Jim Bakker for his assistance in getting this body of work together, and Bernard McEneaney for his continued assistance.

Christine McCarthy, Curator and CEO, PAAM