Dictionary
Artist Colonies in the Netherlands

In the heyday of artists' colonies, the second half of the 19th century, the Dutch could already look back onto a rich tradition of landscape art: Atmospheric and realistic depictions of nature had already been influencing art of the northern Netherlands as early as in the 17th century, which is why it is not surprising that the achievements of French Pleinairism, brought forward by the School of Barbizon, were highly appreciated in the Netherlands as well. Numerous artists' colonies sprang up, some of them remained influential up into the days of Expressionism.
The Schools of Hague and Laren with their charming landscape depictions were the first and foremost, they were even called "Dutch Barbizon", but other places would also become homes to similar artists' groups, such as the small villages of Oosterbeek and Wolfheze in Geldern, which attracted numerous painters that were inspired by the enchanting sylvan landscape, for instance the romanticist Johannes Bilders, his son Gerard Bilders, Anton Mauve and the brothers Maris (Jacob Hendricus Maris, Willem Maris and Matthijs Maris), who would later be part of the School of Hague. The town of Nunspeet is also situated in the woody Gelderland, where numerous artists also soon congregated. The village of Noorden near Nieuwkoop in South Holland attracted, among others, Willem Roelofs and Johan Henrik Weissenbruch in the 1880s, they executed picturesque plein air paintings in a damped coloring and dismal atmosphere created by the usage of light. Kortenhoef was slightly larger than Noorden, another artists' colony had also settled there. Katwijk on the coats of the North Sea in South Holland, the place had attracted landscape painters as early as in the 17th century, was the destination for many artists around the turn of the century, making impressionist works, among the artists were Bernardus Johannes Blommers, Willy Sluiter, but also Max Liebermann and the important symbolist Jan Toorop.
Other groundbreaking works were also made in the colony in Domburg on the coast of the North Sea, where Jan Toorop and Piet Mondrian were making works in the style of Dutch Luminism, a tendency that was strongly influenced by Postimpressionism, van Gogh reception and Symbolism.
The "Bergense School" also attained fame, the school was in existence in the north Dutch town of Bergen between 1915 and 1925. The term "Bergense School" would become a fixed term in art history, the style of its members - among them Else Berg, Arnout Colnot, Leo Gestel, Charley Toorop, Matthieu Wiegman and Piet Wiegman - was characzerized by a dark and gloomy expressionism. Plein air landscapes did not play an important role any longer, expressive still lifes and powerful figurative scenes were the favored subjects of the "Bergense School".
Hattem, Heeze, Veere, Spakenburg, Staphorst and Volendam were other Dutch villages and towns that attracted painters in the late 19th and early 20th century.