Max Liebermann meets Vincent van Gogh
Exhibition “Liebermann und Van Gogh” organized by Liebermann-Villa in cooperation with the Ambassador of the Netherlands
June 29th, 2015
The Liebermann-Villa museum in Wannsee Berlin is currently showing the the exhibition “Liebermann und Van Gogh”, organized by Museum director Dr. Martin Faass under the patronage of Ms. Monique van Daalen, Ambassador of the Netherlands to Germany. More than 40 paintings from the years 1882 to 1885 illustrate the hitherto little-known affinity between the two artists.
Although these two painters and contemporaries had never a chance to meet, the exhibition "Max Liebermann and Vincent van Gogh" tells of a close encounter and shows how strikingly similar the two artists are in their works from the years 1882-1885. Both painted peasants in the field, women sewing at the window and weavers. With more than forty paintings, drawings and watercolors, the exhibition underlines a previously little-known affinity between two artists who are among the prominent heads of the German and Dutch art. But differences are clear: Lieberman’s somewhat idealized view of country life is contrasted with van Gogh’s paintings, in which the oppression of his own soul is clearly reflected.
Max Liebermann (1847–1935) visited his "Malheimat" Holland almost every summer from 1872 onwards. There, he found motifs from everyday life: artisans, farmers in the field, women sewing at the window. Vincent van Gogh (1853–1890) was at that time at the very beginning of its artistic career. Van Gogh was familiar with Liebermann’s paintings and expressed the desire to meet him, but this never came to pass. After this time, Van Gogh moved to Paris where he lived until his tragic death, and Liebermann returned to his hometown of Berlin, where he lived to the age of 88.
On April 30th 2006 the Liebermann family villa on the Wannsee lake in Berlin was opened by the Max Liebermann Society as a permanent museum dedicated to the maestro. On the ground floor, visitors can familiarize themselves with the biography of the artist and the history of his family in Berlin. On the upper floor there are over 150 artworks of Max Liebermann and other family members.
Today, Van Gogh's works are among the world's most valuable paintings, alongside masters such a as Pablo Picasso. Two thousand of his artworks can be seen all over the world, most of them in Van Gogh Museum in Amsterdam and Kröller-Müller Museum in Otterlo, the Netherlands.
The exhibition can be visited between April 26th 2015 and August 10th 2015 at Liebermann-Villa, Colomierstraße 3, 14109 Berlin.
References and Links
- Further information may be found under: http://deutschland.nlbotschaft.org/kalender/2015/04/“max-liebermann-und-vincent-van-gogh”-in-der-liebermann-villa-am-wannsee.html
Aga Balicka, Berlin Global
