The artists' colonie
Parlor in the Guesthouse Blode
- Painting by Lovis Corinth
- Paintings by Ernst Mollenhauer
- Paintings by Max Pechstein I
- Paintings by Max Pechstein II
- Paintings by Karl Schmitt-Rottluff
“Who wasn't under the spell of this magic when setting foot on this island" wrote Erich Mollenhauer about Nidden. The vast look, the strong colors and the overwhelming light in this unusual scenery provided a lot of incentives and motifs for any kind of artists.
Not only had a few painters come to the spit. In an exhibition catalogue all 117 painters are listed, who found there way on the spit since the late 18th century. Among them was Lovis Corinth who painted the cemetery of Nidden in 1873. The famous Brücke-artist, Max Pechstein visited Nidden in the summers between 1905 and 1920 five times, each time for several months. He met with his college Karl Schmidt-Rottluff in 1913 Nidden.
Nidden owed the title "artists' colony" to Herman Blode the owner of a local guesthouse with a keen interest in art and who collected paintings. He welcomed any artist in the hotel founded in 1975 and equipped a studio that was temporarily rented by....The lounge looked soon like a gallery because he took paintings as a payment for board and lodging.
First as a guest the painter Erich Mollerhauer came to visit Nidden, but he should stay and his name is closely connected with Nidden. In 1920 he married Herman Blode's daughter Hedwig and after the death of the "patriarch" Blode, he took over the management of the hotel.
In the course of time many artists have come to the spit and to Nidden, they left a considerable amount of paintings, a legacy that speaks of a deep and upholding fascination for the beauty and challenge of a very unique landscape and culture.
Nidden, Herrmann Wirth