Nida, artists’ colony in Lithuania

Admire the dune landscapes, the ‘Italian’ light and come face to face with the fishermen of this Baltic peninsula, captured by more than forty artists!

Nida is located in a remote corner of the Curonian Spit, a small peninsula between the Baltic Sea and the lagoon. In the 19th and early 20th centuries, the village attracted artists from the art academy in Königsberg who sought motives in the beautiful dune landscape. They were originally artists who were inspired by the French Barbizon painters who worked ‘en plein air’ and in impressionist style.

Thanks to the private collection of A. Popov/ J. Kosinova the exhibition shows 65 artworks of forty artists working in the Lithuanian village of Nida. The Noord-Veluws Kunstmuseum focuses on the development of the artists’ colony on the northern Veluwe. It also seeks to connect with the European story about artists’ colonies.  

The painting ‘Italian view of Nida’ by Hans Hentschke with the crooked pine in the foreground reminds us of the Bay of Naples. Nida was also praised for its mediterranean atmosphere and special light. As in many other artists’ colonies, female artists also worked there, like Anna Michelau and Bertha Schilling. After Max Pechstein discovered Nida in 1909, more expressionists followed, including Arthur Degner and Oskar Gawell.

Hermann Blode’s hotel was the heart and soul of the Nida artists’ colony. Ernst Mollenhauer, Hermann Blode’s son-in-law, was a late expressionist. He took over Blode’s boarding house after his death in 1934. Until the artists fled Nida in 1945 due to the Soviet Union’s capture, around 300-400 artists had worked there.

For more information: www.noord-veluws-museum.nl