Max Liebermann
Max Liebermann (1847-1933) was the son of a captain of industry from Berlin. His father Louis owned dozens of textile factories, machine factories and blast furnaces.
Even at a young age, Max already showed a talent for drawing, but his parents were initially less than delighted about that. Even so, they did not stop him from developing his talent. Eventually, he became the most famous German impressionist painter.
Because of his admiration for painters Frans Hals and Rembrandt, he came to the Netherlands on study trips. In our country, he was charmed by the way people lived, by the landscape and by the sea. He made various friends here, and from 1876 on he visited the Netherlands for a few months almost every year.
From 1905 to 1913 he made Noordwijk his headquarters during the (summer) months that he was in the country. During those years, he produced many paintings, developing his style away from realism and becoming more of an impressionist painter. 127 paintings by his hand depict locations in Noordwijk.
Partially due to the World Wars, Max Lieberman was more or less forgotten in Noordwijk. Wrongly so! Max Liebermann captured the emerging seaside resort Noordwijk in paintings better than anyone else.
The Max Liebermann Foundation Noordwijk was established to give painter Max Liebermann his rightful place in the town of Noordwijk. By following the Max Liebermann Route, where people can admire panels of 23 paintings by his hand at the locations where they were created, the foundation’s primary objective has largely been achieved.
The Max Liebermann Route is a perfect fit for the ‘Culture Connects’ theme, especially when we consider that he also painted in the dunes near Zandvoort, bordering the Noordwijkerhout woods. The future plan is to extend the route by adding a panel in that area. The route also connects tourists visiting Noordwijk to the local residents. The tourists visit Noordwijk because of Max Liebermann and his route, and the Noordwijk residents are proud of his paintings of so many of the local landscapes, locations and beach scenes.
The Max Liebermann Foundation Noordwijk would like to offer more spin-off activities in the future to give more substance to the theme.
In his own words, Max Liebermann called Noordwijk a ‘Badekur’ for the inner being. He considered Noordwijk to be a place where he knew virtually every person, every house and every tree. Liebermann loved Noordwijk and its residents loved him, demonstrated by the fact that, in honour of his 60th birthday, he was made an honorary member of the local cultural association, Crescentia, which also organised a torchlight procession for him in the evening.
Supplementing the panels along the Max Liebermann Route, it is very nice to also see Max present on the mirror panel. That gives yet another boost to the route.
Visit this site for more information about Max Liebermann: https://www.maxliebermannnoordwijk.nl