Picturesque residence – Liebermann Villa Musuem at Wannsee, Berlin

My dear readers, how is your summer holiday? Speaking of summer holiday, I always fond of being by the coast for some reason, perhaps the therapeutic joy to see the gentle tide hitting the shore softly under the clear blue sky, the refreshing and comfortable breeze that enables me to relax and forget about the hectic work from the day, or, it’s simply my style fantasy of making an excuse to wear my beloved crispy seersucker jacket and clean white linen shirt, with a splash of aquatic fragrance, stretching my arms out to breath in the wonderful gift by the mother nature – green air and fresh sea breeze.

I was attending an art exhibition recently which the painting is inspired by landscape and ocean, the style is abstract, spatial and spiritual, somehow it looks a bit like impressionism with only a few color combination, very calming and relaxing when looking at it, and then within that little moment, it suddenly reminds me of the work of a legendary German artist and his residence in Wannsee, Berlin, which is, Max Liebermann’s.

Although this legendary German-Jewish artist is no longer with us, but his work, legacy, and even his former residence has so much more than just about art. I remember vividly that it was one of my plan to go to the Villa museum after I visited the haunting and educational Wannsee Konferenz, which takes barely about 15-minute walk, to experience a different kind of feel about Wannsee.

The neighborhood in the greater Wannsee (Großer Wannsee) in fact, is a very secluded residential suburban area which attracted some elite and affluent people to live there even before the WWII, and one of it, in this address in particular, was where the Impressionism artist, Max Liebermann, and his family, once lived. The soft and gentle colors that used in each of his painting, his keen on capturing the scene of beautiful gardens, and Berliner socialites spending their past-time in this beautiful greater Wannsee lake neighborhood, his work has become a sensation and adored by art connoisseurs and collectors. The artist and his family were living peacefully there until the Third Reich took power back in the 30s, which forces the artist to leave this beautiful residence, and eventually, landed on the hand of then-Reich government, and turned that into a post office; after the war and the subsequent changes of ownerships of this villa, it finally turned into a museum (which the last usage of this premises was a private yacht club) since 2006, paying tribute to this artist and celebrate his legacy.

Inside the museum not only one will find around 40 original artworks, yet, the most impressive thing is to be able to have a personal view to the former artist’s atelier, the living room and dining room (on the ground floor) which now turned into a café, the ambient is very tranquil, relaxing and nostalgic, if one is interested about artist’s life and their way of living, this museum is an ideal place to visit when coming to Wannsee.

One of my favorite part of this visit at Max Liebermann Villa Museum, is to explore the backyard and front yard gardens, while the backyard garden is very impressive that having a view that takes you to the coast of the greater Wannsee lake, having an experience about the nautical past-time of the Berliner elite in that neighborhood, the front yard garden is much like the artist’s painting, filled with colorful flowers and well-organized like you are visiting a royal garden, dated back then, a well-organized and beautifully farmed garden is very important to the artist himself as one of his inspirational source, therefore, bringing this significant piece of element that aligned to the artist’s vision makes the visit much alive and connect to the core spirit of Max himself, and his dedication of loving the mother nature, his artistry and passion which leads how this associated to his artwork and way of living.

Maybe, that’s one of the reason why I am so fond of being in the coast in summer time.

http://www.max-liebermann.de/start.html