Overbeck-Museum

The Overbeck-Museum is a museum in Bremen dedicated to one of the founding fathers of the Worpswede artists' colony, the painter Fritz Overbeck (1869–1909) and his wife, the painter Hermine Overbeck-Rohte (1869–1937). The group of Worpswede artists originated in 1889 in Worpswede (a town not far from Bremen), in imitation of the French model of the Barbizon school. The most representative exponent was Paula Modersohn-Becker. The group became famous for anti-academic landscapes that portray the simple peasant life in the rugged countryside of northern Germany. The models are the French Impressionists, but the artists of Worpswede can be considered at the same time forerunners of Expressionism. The heart of the collection is the artistic heritage of the couple of painters. It consists of oil paintings, drawings, etchings, watercolors, gouache and photographs. The extensive collection also includes letters, private photographs, documents and objects (painting tools, furniture and books) from the couple of painters. The museum is engaged in research and publishes catalogs and yearbooks on the works of Fritz Overbeck and Hermine Overbeck-Rohte. It organizes temporary exhibitions in which it develops topics related to the main themes of the museum. Guided tours, lectures, art trips and readings complete the program.