Bhikhaiji Rustom Cama (24 September 1861 – 13 August 1936) known as, Madam Cama, was one of the prominent figures in the Indian independence movement. She unfurled one of the earliest versions of the flag of independent India on August 22, 1907 and she was the first person to hoist an Indian flag in a foreign nation, at the International Socialist Conference at Stuttgart.

Jan Levinus Gerardus Verhoeven (1870–1941) was born in Amsterdam and came of age during a pivotal moment in European art. Trained in the Netherlands, he soon grew restless with the limitations of his local scene and moved first to Groningen and then to Paris in 1900. In the French capital — then the beating heart of modernism — he took up residence at 13 Rue Girardon in Montmartre, a short walk from the studios of Picasso, Modigliani, and Toulouse-Lautrec. There, he formed a close friendship with fellow Dutchman Kees van Dongen, one of the leading Fauvist painters, with whom he shared both a studio and a circle of avant-garde acquaintances. Through Van Dongen, Verhoeven was introduced to Henri Matisse and members of the Salon d’Automne, immersing himself in the bold color theories and emotional intensity that defined the Fauvist and early Expressionist movements.

During his Paris years, Verhoeven participated in exhibitions alongside many of these modern masters, showing his work at the Salon des Indépendants and the Salon d’Automne, where the new generation of painters — Matisse, Derain, Dufy, and Marquet — were transforming the language of color and form. Verhoeven’s canvases echoed their vibrancy yet maintained a distinctive individuality, often depicting women and interior scenes rendered with thick, lyrical brushwork and a psychological depth that set him apart. While Van Dongen’s celebrity rose swiftly, Verhoeven’s quieter temperament and reluctance to engage in the art world’s politics kept him on the margins of fame, though his artistic achievements were respected by his peers.

Despite his early promise, Verhoeven’s later life was marked by hardship and obscurity. He remained in Paris through the interwar period, still connected to the city’s bohemian circles that had once included Picasso, Matisse, and the expatriate modernists who reshaped 20th-century art. His death in 1941, during the German occupation, extinguished a life deeply intertwined with that extraordinary artistic era. Today, art historians such as Marcel Moonen seek to re-establish Verhoeven’s rightful place among those innovators — as a talented but overlooked contemporary of the Fauves whose paintings capture both the coloristic daring and emotional resonance of early modernism.