Artists' Colonies overview » euroArt - the European Federation of Artists' Colonies

Balestrand

The history of Balestrand as an artists’ village starts in the early 19th century. Since then the village has housed many artists, both national and international. Today Balestrand is a vibrant art village.

Szolnok

The beauty of the Szolnok scenery was first noticed by the Austrian painter, August von Pettenkoffen.

Barbizon

In the forest of Fontainebleau near Paris the first artists’ colony came into being.

Schwalenberg

Already in the late 19th Century, the small medieval town of Schwalenberg became, due to the beauty of the landscape, the quiet harmony and the extraordinary light conditions, a favourite place for impressionist landscape painters. Painters from Düsseldorf, Berlin and other cities came to Schwalenberg for plein-air painting.

Auvers-sur-Oise

During the 19th century, a number of painters lived and worked in Auvers-sur-Oise, including Paul Cézanne, Charles-François Daubigny, Camille Pissarro, Jean-Baptiste-Camille Corot and Vincent van Gogh.

Domburg

In the 1870’s the Belgian artists Emile Claus, Camille Van Camp and Euphrosine Beernaert spent a couple of summers on the isle of Walcheren, Zealand. With many other guests they stayed at the country house of the wealthy Belgian industrialist Emile De Harven near Domburg and made the isle the subject of their works. A real artists’ colony, however, was not formed until the turn of the century.

Kevelaer

under construction

Laren

under construction

Dangast

Dangast occupies a special position within the classic artist colonies.

Ahrenshoop

Enclosed by two waters, connecting two land strips, formed by contrasts, a sea resort and an artists’ village – this is Ahrenshoop. No matter what season, Ahrenshoop will always invite you to encounter art. It might be paintings or sculptures, literature or film, music or theatre what you are looking for – Ahrenshoop’s galleries, art houses and studios, but also its hotels and bed and breakfast places make offers on the highest level.

euroArt: Insightview Museum Studio Otto Niemeyer Holstein

Usedom

Usedom as an island for artists - In the thirties of last century the artists Otto Manigk, Otto Niemeyer-Holstein, Karen Schacht ...

Katwijk

In the 1850's, Katwijk was home to the painter Jozef Israels. However, the artists' colony did not reach its peak until 1880, which lasted until 1910. The hard, unspoiled and intensive fishermen's life was a great source of inspiration from artists from all over the world. After the period of Romanticism, most painters applied a realistic or naturalistic style until a new generation stood up and brought a trace of Modernism to the village.

Tervuren

The artists’ colony of Tervuren (Flanders, Belgium) was founded in de woods near Brussels around 1860, after the colony of Barbizon (France). Freeing themselves from academic restrictions, young Belgian artists like Camille Van Camp (who also worked in Domburg in The Netherlands), Joseph Coosemans, Jules Montigny and in particular Hippolyte Boulenger painted their surroundings en plein air.

euroArt: Murnau pedestrian zone © Stoess

Murnau am Staffelsee

In 1908, after a journey through Europe and North Africa, the artists Gabriele Münter and Wassily Kandinsky, members of the first modernistic association, the Neue Künstlervereinigung München (NKVM), first came to Murnau a. Staffelsee, together with Marianne von Werefkin and Alexej Jawlensky. They enjoyed their stay and felt inspired by the beautiful landscape.

Prien am Chiemsee

The Chiemsee was one of the most important artists places in Germany. In 80s of he 19. century the artist Hugo Kauffmann discovered the place Prien am Chiemsee and settled. He founded one of the doughter-colonies of Frauenchiemsee.

Szentendre

As a result of the Treaty of Trianon after Worldwar I the artists colony of Nagybánya was no longer part of Hungary. Tibor Boromisza and others discovered Szentendre to be more than a substitute. The artist's colony was founded in 1926. In 1929 the artists moved to a house at Deák ference Street, which became the main place for the artists for a long period.
In 1969 a new artists colonie was founded by the Hungarian state.

Nunspeet

At a time when industry and urbanisation was emerging, they discovered the beauty of the countryside and of living close to nature.

Moret-sur-Loing

under construction

Dachau

Once the seat of counts, then a mediaeval market town, summer residence of the Wittelsbach dynasty and since 1973 main municipality of the district – the town of Dachau can look back on a twelve-hundred year history.

Dötlingen

A very important part of Doetlingen is the wonderful and incredibly beautiful nature and countryside which is influenced by the river Hunte. The "Thousand year old Oak Tree" of Doetlingen has been admired by many throughout the centuries.

euroArt: Abbaye des Vaux de Cernay Vue aerienne

Cernay-la-Ville

Cernay-la-Ville is situated at about 45 km south-west of Paris and about 20 km south of Versailles in the Chevreuse Valley area.

The village of about 1600 inhabitants lies between the Rambouillet forest on the north and farmland on the south.

This unique and very picturesque setting has attracted many artists as early as the beginning of the 19^thcentury.

Sklarska Poreba

under construction

Hiddensee

‟Visitors to Hiddensee have included poetesses, poets, painters, sculptors, musicians, actors and other artists without number. Men with the most renowned names in every area of learning and culture.“ Gerhard Hauptmann

Nida / Nidden

The beautiful fishing village of Nida - at the birth of the artists' colony German called Nidden - is situated in the extraordinary landscape of the Kurische Nehrung.

Zweeloo

In July 1882, a well dressed gentleman arrived in Zweeloo in Drenthe. He is a German, from Berlin, of Jewish background and wealthy. His name is Max Liebermann.

Oosterbeek

Echoing the Barbizon naturalist tradition, the village of Oosterbeek, situated on the outskirts of the Veluwe, became a home to one of the first Dutch artists’ colonies

Faaborg

A complete art experience since 1915.
Faaborg Museum is a Gesamtkunstwerk featuring painting, sculpture, architecture, and furniture design – and the overall interactive result is extraordinary. The stunning building boasts magnificent mosaic floors, impressive walls in striking colours, columns, and a multitude of corridors and rooms. Altogether a complete experience sure to kindle your fascination. This goes for the history of the museum, too, which is anything but ordinary.

Kronberg im Taunus

The painter’s colony in Kronberg was one of the most earliest of the German painter’s colonies of the 19th century. Altogether 60 artists worked, over several years, in the Kronberg painter’s colony including such well known names as Wilhelm Trübner, Jakob Fürchtegott Dielmann, Hans Thoma or Carl Morgenstern. Anton Burger’s move to Kronberg in 1858 is associated today with the foundation of the Kronberg artist’s colony.

Chiusa / Klausen

Chiusa/Klausen rose to become the “city of artists” in the late ’70s of the 19thcentury due to an incisive event in literature and history.

Willingshausen

The Schwälmer Willingshäuser Malerkolonie is the oldest artists' colony in Europe.

Ferch

under construction

Edam-Volendam

In there quest for traditional situations to paint, many artists discovered Volendam in the late 19th, early 20th century. They were in fact the first tourists in Volendam and it’s thanks to Leendert Spaander and his wife Aaltje that the village developed as a real “artist colony”.

Worpswede

“Worpswede, Worpswede . . . it is a wonderland!", Paula Becker wrote in her diary in 1897 and the poet Rainer Maria Rilke enthused about a "sky of indescribable variability and grandeur”. To the present day artists and visitors interested in art and culture are captivated by the charm of Worpswede and its sandy hill - the "Weyerberg". Birch trees line the streets into the village, situated 25 km north-east of Bremen, in the midst of the expansive, picturesque “Teufelsmoor” [Devil's Moor] with river Hamme and its lowlands.

Heikendorf

under construction

Genck

From 1840’s onwards the small Kempen town of Genck became one of the most beloved artist villages in Belgium. Between 1840 and 1940, hundreds of painters visited Genck to capture the scenery on canvas.

Graz

under construction

Gödöllö

Over the past Gödöllö has been enriched by famous people and their deeds: Antal Grassalkovich I. made it a place often visited by royal guests.

euroArt: Museum Künstlerkolonie Darmstadt, Ernst Ludwig-Haus © Bildarchiv Foto Marburg / Norbert Latocha

Institut Mathildenhöhe Darmstadt

"My Hesse country shall flourish and in it, the arts!" The founding and development of the Darmstadt Artists’ Colony, 1899-1914

euroArt: Abramtsevo Museum. Former building of recreation center

Ambramtsevo

Abramtsevo is located north of Moscow, in the proximity of Khotkovo, that became a center for the Slavophile movement and artistic activity in the 19th century.

Önningeby

The Önningeby Artists’ Colony was founded in 1886 by the Finnish landscape painter Victor Westerholm, at the Åland Islands in the Baltic Sea.

Plasmolen

under construction

Kazimierz Dolny

Kazimierz Dolny, situated on the bank of the Vistula River, is one of the most charming quaint towns in Poland.

Sint-Martens-Latem

The landscape around the river Leie has been an inspiration to artists in particular from the last quarter of the 19^th century.

Grötzingen

The history of the Grötzingen artists’ colony began in 1889 with the purchase of a summer house by Friedrich Kallmorgen. A short time later animal painter Otto Fikentscher bought the Augustenburg, a castle formerly belonging to the margraves of Baden, and took up residence there with his wife Jenny. Other Karlsruhe painters – Gustav Kampmann, Franz Hein and Karl Biese – soon joined them with their families. The Grötzingen painters maintained artistic ties to nearby Karlsruhe, at that time the residence of the rulers of Baden, and were among the founding members of the Karlsruher Künstlerbund (Association of Karlsruhe Artists), a secessionist group founded in 1896.

Schwaan

As many north german places Schwaan is of slavic origin and it's foundation owes around 1230 to the favorable position between Warnow and Beke. The town lay at an historic crossing of a trading road over the Warnow river and soon developed to a respectable city.