Katwijk being the home of painter Bernard Blommers, the artists’ colony became truly bustling with artistic life in the 1880s, when more artists settled down in the village. After the period of Romanticism, painters found new inspiration in the intensive fishermen’s life in Katwijk. A rough lifestyle, in which men succumbed to the seaside elements. The artists in town applied a realistic or naturalistic style until a new generation brought Modernism to the village.

Katwijk’s artists’ colony was a place of work for Bernard Blommers and Jan Zoetelief Tromp, Dutch painters from The Hague School, and for many others, like charismatic artist Jan Toorop. His works of art consist of pointillist and symbolic paintings and drawings. Where to go, now? What about Katwijks Museum, featuring many paintings from this period, as well as model ships used by fishermen and traditional costumes. Or visit the DUNAatelier, which displays every year during the summer the admiring works of 15 contemparary ‘plein air’ painters and other shows throughout the seasons.