Dutch psychiatrist, anthroposophist and the first biographer of Rudolf Steiner.
Zeylmans van Emmichoven was the youngest son the merchant and chocolate manufactury director Petrus Cornelis Zeijlmans van Emmichoven (6 September 1861, Helmond – 1945, Den Haag) and his German wife Emma Malsch (27 July 1864, Bramen – 15 February 1929, Den Haag). They married 11 April 1889 in Helmond and got two sons: Fredrik Willem and Petrus Cornelis (14 Jan 1890, Helmond – 1959, UK).
He went to the elementary school in Helmond in 1898. January 1909 his parents moved to Amsterdam. Autumn 1909 he contracted typhoid fever. He went to HBS till July 1912. At the Dutch start of the academic year (1 September 1912), he started to study medicine in Amsterdam. April 1913 his family moved to the Willem de Zwijger lane 97 in Den Haag. He went to study in Leiden. November 1914, he was called to arms in Haarlem. August 1915 he met his wife. September 1916, he met the painter Jacoba van Heemskerck (1 April 1876, Den Haag – 2 Augustus 1923, Domburg) and her patron, the rich art collector Marie Tak van Poortvliet (15 Feb 1871, Den Haag – 8 July 1936, Dornach), who would also financially support him. Until then, his study was paid for by the government, but he needed to become a colonial doctor for that.
Tak van Poortvliet brought him into contact with the anthroposophical movement and Rudolf Steiner (first met 1920) and she stimulated him to work on the the colour theory of Steiner and Goethe. He went to Germany to study under the first experimental psychologist Wilhelm Wundt in Leipzig and it resulted in his dissertation “De werking der kleuren op het gevoel” [25 Sept 1923 15h30] under the psychiatrist prof. K.H. Bouman at the University of Amsterdam.
During Steiners visit to Holland (13-19 Nov 1923) the “Anthroposophische Vereeniging in Nederland” was erected. De became an editor of the monthly Anthroposophie (1922/1923) and the Dutch part of the Goetheanum (1924). At the same time he worked as a psychiatrist in Rotterdam and Den Haag. In Den Haag he was the director of the Rudolf Steinerkliniek (1923).
During the last forty years of his life he travelled around the world to give some two thousand lectures on anthroposphy. He wrote books and brochures on the subject in German and Dutch, quite la lot were translated in English and Spanish.
On 27 September 1921, he married Ingeborg Drooglever Fortuijn (14 October 1898, Den Haag – 21 January 1960, Den Haag). They got four children. 1. Johanna Veronica Zeijlmans van Emmichoven (28 Nov 1922, Poortugaal – 14 Nov 1995, Zeist) who married Jacob Kuilman, an ENT physician. 2. Johannes Emanuel Zeijlmans van Emmichoven (5 Aug 1926, Den Haag -2008), who married Catharina Irma Dessaur (the Jewish writer Andreas Burnier). 3. The artist Adelbert Johannes Zeijlmans van Emmichoven (11 Nov 1929, Den Haag – 8 Sep 1973, Den Haag), who married E van der Most. And 4. Zwaanhilde Elisa Zeijlmans van Emmichoven (11 Nov 1929, Den Haag – 8 September 1973, Den Haag), who married Willem Anthony Engelbracht (10 June 1925, Soerabaja – 5 Aug 1998, Den Haag), who became an anthroposophic doctor.
He died unexpectedly on 18 November 1961 in Cape Town, South Africa. He was giving lectures on racial psychology for separate (white and coloured) audiences.
Link to German Wikipedia