Country house in Hilversum

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Country house in Hilversum (Max Liebermann)
Country house in Hilversum
Max Liebermann , 1901
Oil on canvas
65 × 80 cm
National Gallery, Berlin

Landhaus in Hilversum is a 1901 painting by the German painter Max Liebermann . The landscape picture painted in oil on canvas has a height of 65 cm and a width of 80 cm. It belongs to the collection of the National Gallery in Berlin. The painting shows a villa in a park in the vicinity of the Dutch town of Hilversum . The model for the composition was the country house in Rueil by the French Édouard Manet . The country house in Hilversum marks Liebermann's turn to depictions from the upper-class milieu, after he had repeatedly shown everyday scenes of working people. After the painting he painted numerous other works with views of a villa in the park, especially motifs from his own summer house on Wannsee .

Image description

The painting Landhaus in Hilversum shows a motif that Liebermann was familiar with from the Dutch province of Noord-Holland . In a park with numerous trees "in the lush, lush green" there is a white mansion in the middle in the middle. The facade, shown parallel to the image, is divided into three floors. In the middle of the ground floor, the entrance door with an ornamental skylight and a short canopy above it can be seen. There is also a window with open shutters. On the two upper floors there are three windows each without shutters. All windows are lattice windows with small panes in a grid. The grid lines shine brightly against the dark rooms inside. The window and door frames are yellow, the shutters and the front door are painted dark green. A striking design element of the facade is a kind of parapet in the middle, in which a round tower clock is embedded. The reddish tiled roof is visible to the side. Behind it a white-gray sky shines through the trees in a few places.

In front of the cuboid house is a large round rose bed with green foliage and some red flowers. A light green lawn forms the foreground. The trees in the park are carefully arranged. From the left and right, rows of trees with cut trees protrude up to the house. Behind it, tree trunks and foliage of other trees can be seen, sometimes they can only be guessed as dark shadow areas. What is striking, however, is a mighty tree that dominates the foreground on the right side of the picture and stands in contrast to the white facade of the house. Its thick, dark trunk is cut from the upper edge of the picture and only part of the tree crown protruding behind it appears in the painting. Various authors suspected a beech as the tree species .

The painting works without human personnel. All windows and doors are locked; In the park neither residents nor servants roam around. Nevertheless, this “light-flooded space” gives clues to the owners of the property. The park in its well-tended condition is a place of undisturbed peace, which serves as a feast for the eyes to relax the invisible owner. In the painting, Liebermann shows a varied brushwork: the foreground with the lawn area is sometimes only thinly applied with a broad brush, in the flowerbed the flowers are dabbed with a fine brush and the trees sometimes appear as if they were spatula. The painting is signed lower left with “M.Liebermann”.

About the creation of the painting

Jacob Olie: Hofstede Oud-Bussem , photograph 1902

The villa shown in the painting Landhaus in Hilversum is the home of the Oud-Bussem estate . The property is located near Bussum in the Huizen municipality , a few kilometers north of Hilversum. The incorrect title Landhaus in Hilversum may have come from Liebermann himself when he put the painting and preparatory work on the market. The building no longer exists today. A 1903 photograph by Jacob Olie shows a similar view of the villa as Liebermann painted, but from a much greater distance. The property previously belonged to the powder manufacturer Johannes (Jan) Bredius, father of the art historian and museum director Abraham Bredius . Liebermann had been friends with the Rembrandt expert Bredius since 1890. When Liebermann painted the villa in 1900, however, it no longer belonged to the Bredius family. It is therefore not clear whether Liebermann visited the property with Bredius, or whether the painter Jan Veth Liebermann, who lives in Bussum, drew attention to the Villa Oud Bussem .

In addition to the oil painting, Liebermann created several works on paper around 1900/1901 of the House and Park Oud-Bussem , which may have served as preliminary studies. There is a chalk drawing of a Dutch country house in the park (private collection) with an arch-like path to the house that is framed by trees some distance away. In the center of the picture there is a tree with a full treetop next to the house and above it a piece of sky. These details are missing in the other drawings. In addition, various people can be found in this drawing in the foreground on a large, empty lawn: in front a gardener at work, to the left of them further back a woman and a girl. The charcoal drawing of the park landscape in Holland ( Staatliche Kunsthalle Karlsruhe ) shows a similar perspective , in which the house is at a great distance and the facade is largely covered by trees. Here, too, there is an empty lawn on the right. The chalk drawing Landhaus in Hilversum ( Museum of Fine Arts , Leipzig) already shows the mighty tree trunk on the right side of the picture, which is similar to the painting version; the house seems to have been pushed into the background here too. In another drawing of Landhaus in Hilversum (whereabouts unknown), the facade has moved much closer to the foreground. It already shows great similarities to the painting version and reproduces the house at almost the same distance and perspective. The tree trunk on the right is made even less solid in this drawing and there is a gardener to the left of the house.

Édouard Manet: Country house in Rueil , 1881

The model for Liebermann's Landhaus in Hilversum was Manet's painting, Landhaus in Rueil . Liebermann admired the art of Manet and had owned several paintings by the French since the 1890s. Liebermann's friend and biographer Erich Hancke spoke of the "thinned influence of Manet's painterly delicacy". Liebermann had known works by Manet since the 1880s, when works by the French Impressionists were on view in Carl and Felicie Bernstein's Berlin Salon . Liebermann received a comprehensive overview of Manet's work when he traveled to Paris in 1896 with the Berlin museum director Hugo von Tschudi . There both of them had selected Manet's picture Im Wintergarten for the collection of the Nationalgalerie in the art trade and on this occasion also saw numerous other Manet's works. He was certainly also familiar with the motif of the country house in Rueil , a version of which came to the Berlin National Gallery in 1906. Liebermann took over the subject and composition of the image from Manet's country house in Rueil for his country house in Hilversum . In each of the works of the two artists there is also a tree cut from the edge of the picture in front of the house facade. In Manet, however, this is more clearly in the middle and the trunk is less massive than in Liebermann's painting. The works of the two artists differ primarily in terms of color. While Manet shows his house with a sunlit facade and the garden shines in light colors, Liebermann has mainly chosen dark colors and mainly depicted shady areas.

Liebermann's country house motifs

The country house in Hilversum from 1901 fell into a creative phase of Liebermann, in which he turned to new pictorial subjects. In the previous years he repeatedly chose motifs that came from the world of the workers and peasants. He portrayed seamstresses, shepherd girls and tinkerers and painted people in orphanages and old people's homes. At the beginning of the 20th century he turned his interest away from working people towards the leisure activities of the bourgeoisie. He now portrayed those seeking relaxation walking in the park, staying in the beer garden or taking a rowing boat trip - motifs such as the French impressionists had shown in their pictures. In addition, there were upper-class scenes such as vacationers and riders on the beach, or observations while playing tennis, polo and horse racing.

Liebermann's new subjects now also included a view of a villa in the park, as shown for the first time in the painting Landhaus in Hilversum . These parks do not serve to nourish the residents like cottage gardens, but rather, as a place of rest and relaxation, they display prestigious prosperity. After the country estate near Hilversum, Liebermann devoted himself to depicting villas in park-like surroundings in Hamburg the following year. In 1902 he created views of the country houses Wesselhoeft , Godeffroy ( Das Godeffroy'sche Landhaus in the Hirschpark of Nienstedten on the Elbe , 1902, Hamburger Kunsthalle ) and Eichberghaus ( Old House in Hamburg , 1902, private collection) in Nienstedten . These views show a much lighter palette than Liebermann's country house in Hilversum .

A few years after the Hamburg villa views were created, Liebermann wanted to move into his own country house with a garden. 1909–1910, the building known today as the Liebermann Villa was erected on the Wannsee in Berlin , in which the family has spent the summer months ever since. Max Liebermann set up a studio in the house and in the years that followed chose the garden, which was laid out according to his wishes, as a preferred motif for his paintings. In addition to pictures of individual garden elements, the view of the shore of the Wannsee or portraits in the countryside, Liebermann also repeatedly presented views of his house that are reminiscent of the Hamburg villa views, but can be traced back to the country house in Hilversum . Examples of this are Liebermann's painting Birkenallee im Wannseegarten from 1918 and The Birkenallee in Wannsee to the West from 1926 (both National Gallery, Berlin).

Provenance

The painting Landhaus in Hilversum came to the collection of the National Gallery in Berlin in 1917 as a gift from the Berlin entrepreneur, art collector and patron Eduard Arnhold . The reason for this was the 70th birthday of Max Liebermann, with whom Arnhold was close friends. They also shared a passion for works by Édouard Manet, both of which had several works in their collections.

literature

  • Sigrid Achenbach, Angelika Wesenberg : Max Liebermann, turn of the century . Exhibition catalog Alte Nationalgalerie, Nicolai, Berlin 1997, ISBN 3-87584-978-7 .
  • Martin Faass : The idea of ​​a house in the country: Max Liebermann at Wannsee . Max-Liebermann-Veranstaltungs-GmbH, Berlin 2010, ISBN 978-3-9811952-4-8 .
  • Dorothee Hansen : Max Liebermann - the German impressionist . Exhibition catalog Kunsthalle Bremen, Hirmer, Munich 1995, ISBN 3-7774-6910-6 .
  • Peter Krieger : Painter of Impressionism from the National Gallery Berlin . Mann, Berlin 1967.
  • Tobias G. Natter , Julius H. Schoeps (Eds.): Max Liebermann and the French Impressionists . Exhibition catalog Jewish Museum Vienna, DuMont, Cologne 1997, ISBN 3-7701-4293-4 .
  • Angelika Wesenberg: In the dispute about modernity . Exhibition catalog Max Liebermann Haus am Brandenburger Tor, Nicolai, Berlin 2001, ISBN 3-87584-102-6 .
  • Angelika Wesenberg (ed.): Painting in the 19th century: the collection of the National Gallery . Vol. 2, L – Z, Michael Imhof Verlag, Petersberg 2017, ISBN 978-3-7319-0458-8 .

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ^ Margreet Nouwen: Max Liebermann: Oil paintings and pastels in Tobias G. Natter, Julius H. Schoeps: Max Liebermann and the French Impressionists , p. 112.
  2. Sigrid Achenbach, Angelika Wesenberg: Max Liebermann, turn of the century , p. 170.
  3. ^ Margreet Nouwen: Max Liebermann: Oil paintings and pastels in Tobias G. Natter, Julius H. Schoeps: Max Liebermann and the French Impressionists , p. 112.
  4. ^ Dorothee Hansen: The new luminosity of color in Max Liebermann - the German Impressionist , p. 185.
  5. The tree is referred to as a beech in Peter Krieger: Maler des Impressionismus aus der Nationalgalerie Berlin , p. 20 and in Margreet Nouwen: Max Liebermann: Oil paintings and pastels in Tobias G. Natter, Julius H. Schoeps: Max Liebermann and the French Impressionists , P. 112.
  6. Peter Krieger: Painter of Impressionism from the National Gallery Berlin , p. 20.
  7. ^ Margreet Nouwen: Max Liebermann: Oil paintings and pastels in Tobias G. Natter, Julius H. Schoeps: Max Liebermann and the French Impressionists , p. 112.
  8. ^ Peter Krieger: Painter of Impressionism from the National Gallery Berlin ; P. 21.
  9. Angelika Wesenberg: Painting in the 19th century: the collection of the National Gallery , p. 534.
  10. Information on the history of the Oud-Bussem estate can be found on the website of the current owner Strengholt BV and on the website of the Oneindig Noord-Holland cultural foundation
  11. The painting came to the Nationalgalerie in 1917, see provenance; The Museum of Fine Arts in Leipzig acquired a chalk drawing of the motif in 1902, see Dorothee Hansen: Max Liebermann - the German Impressionist , p. 260.
  12. Angelika Wesenberg: In the dispute about modernity, p. 62.
  13. Various authors have dealt with the question of who was the owner of the country house. Some decided on Abraham Bredius, although his grandfather also bore this name in addition to the art historian. While the grandfather actually owned the house, the art historian Abaraham Bredius only belonged to a community of heirs who sold the house in 1895. Above all, Liebermann's biographer Erich Hancke pointed out that the family of Abraham Bredius owned the house. Martin Faass: The idea of ​​a house in the country: Max Liebermann am Wannsee , p. 36.
  14. On the friendship between Max Lieberman and Jan Veth see, for example, Tobias G. Natter, Julius H. Schoeps: Max Liebermann and the French Impressionists , p. 81.
  15. ^ Dorothee Hansen: Max Liebermann - the German Impressionist , p. 196.
  16. Tobias G. Natter, Julius H. Schoeps: Max Liebermann and the French Impressionists , p. 112.
  17. ^ Dorothee Hansen: The new luminosity of color in Max Liebermann - the German Impressionist , p. 185.
  18. Quoted reproduced in Stefan Pucks: Max Liebermann - From the "Apostle of ugliness" to the "Manet of the Germans" in Tobias G. Natter, Julius H. Schoeps: Max Liebermann and the French Impressionists , p. 40.
  19. Peter Krieger: Painter of Impressionism from the National Gallery Berlin , p. 20.
  20. ^ Dorothee Hansen: The new luminosity of color in Max Liebermann - the German Impressionist , p. 185.
  21. Angelika Wesenberg (Ed.): Painting in the 19th century: the collection of the National Gallery, p. 534.
  22. Martin Faass: The idea of ​​the house in the country: Max Liebermann am Wannsee , p. 36.
  23. Martin Faass: The idea of ​​the house in the green: Max Liebermann am Wannsee , p. 34.
  24. Martin Faass: The idea of ​​a house in the country: Max Liebermann am Wannsee , p. 16.
  25. ^ Tobias G. Natter, Julius H. Schoeps: Max Liebermann and the French Impressionists , p. 116.
  26. Angelika Wesenberg: Painting in the 19th century: the collection of the National Gallery , p. 534.
  27. ^ Margreet Nouwen: Max Liebermann: Oil paintings and pastels in Tobias G. Natter, Julius H. Schoeps: Max Liebermann and the French Impressionists , p. 112.
  28. Angelika Wesenberg: Painting in the 19th century: the collection of the National Gallery , p. 534.