euroart*, the European Federation of Artists' Colonies, presents the 3rd International Summer Exhibition of European Artists' Colonies from 2 July to 6 October 2024. The theme of this summer's exhibition is TREES. The participating artists' colonies will show the exhibition on a canvas or exhibit their paintings submitted for the digital exhibition. We cordially invite you to visit some European artists' villages this summer.

The participating Artists' Colonies are from Finland: Åland Islands; from Belgium: Champion, Genk and Tervuren; from Denmark: Faaborg; from France: Barbizon and Grez-sur-Loing; from Germany: Bremen, Dachau, Darmstadt, Flensburg, Grötzingen, Heikendorf, Holzhausen am Ammersee, Jamlitz, Kronberg im Taunus, Murnau, Schwaan, "Schwarzes Haus" Solingen and Worpswede; from Lithuania: Kaunas; from the Netherlands: Worpswede and Liège and from the Netherlands: Domburg, Katwijk, Laren, Nunspeet and Renkum.

In this exhibition, the Solingen Artists' Colony "Black House" presents one work each by the painter, Nazi opponent and exile Erwin Bowien (1899-1972) and the internationally active landscape painter and important historical figure Bettina Heinen-Ayech (1937-2020). For her services as an outstanding artist, as the most important protagonist of the Solingen artists' colony "Black House" and for her commitment as an ambassador for international understanding between Orient and Occident, Bettina Heinen-Ayech was recently included by the FrauenRat NRW in the exclusive circle of the 50 most important historical women personalities in Nordrhein-Westfalen.

Erwin Bowien's oil painting ""Palms in a Winter Garden, 1932" will be on display, while Bettina Heinen-Ayech's watercolour "Olive Trees in a Poppy Field, 1986" has been selected. Look forward to the digital summer exhibition of the European Artists' Colonies on the theme of "TREES" and visit the various artists' colonies. More at: www.euroart.eu.

Erwin Bowien, a German plein-air painter and pacifist who grew up in Switzerland, decided to leave Germany in the winter of 1933, horrified by the Nazi takeover. He went to the Netherlands, which he had got to know a year earlier on an extended trip and where he was able to make some contacts.

His first long-lasting stop was the city of Hoorn, where he created numerous paintings. From 1934, he settled in the small town of Egmond aan den Hoef near Alkmaar, a historic artists' colony whose most famous painter was the American Impressionist George Hitchcock (1850-1913). During this time, he perfected pastel painting and was nicknamed the "master with the pastel pencil". As a convinced plein air painter, he tirelessly travelled the region between Amsterdam and Hoorn on his bicycle and created hundreds of works, including oil paintings and graphite drawings. He quickly made a large circle of friends and received numerous public and private commissions. Some of his paintings can be seen in the Rijksmuseum in Amsterdam, the Westfriesmuseum in Hoorn and the Royal Collections in The Hague. When the head of the Dutch fleet wanted to introduce him to Queen Wilhelmina, the country was occupied by the Wehrmacht.

In 2023, the idea was born to show an exhibition of Dutch works by the artist Erwin Bowien in the museum and to shed light on the time of his exile in the Netherlands. Bowien was not only one of the many German exiles who found refuge in Holland, but also one of the last painters of the Egmond artists' colony. He captured the breathtakingly beautiful dune landscape around Egmond aan Zee, the wide horizons of North Holland and the often stormy North Sea in many haunting paintings.

The exhibition will open on 28 April 2024 and will be on display until 3 November 2024.

For the second time, euroart, the European Federation of Artist Colonies, is organising a digital summer exhibition. This can be visited in the museums and visitor centres of the participating artist colonies. This summer, the theme of the pictures is "WATER". The participating artist colonies are from Belgium: Champion, Tervuren and Sint Martens Latem; from Denmark: Faaborg; from France Barbizon; from Germany: Heikendorf, Kronberg, Schwaan, Grötzingen, Prien am Chiemsee, "Schwarzes Haus" Solingen, Darmstadt and Bremen; from the Netherlands: Domburg, Katwijk, Laren, Nunspeet, and Volendam; and from Italy Taranto.

In this exhibition, the Solingen artists' colony "Schwarzes Haus" presents one work each by the painter, Nazi opponent and exile Erwin Bowien (1899-1972) and the internationally active landscape painter Bettina Heinen-Ayech (1937-2020). Erwin Bowien's painting "The Sand Dunes in Egmond aan Zee, Netherlands, 1937" will be on display, and Bettina Heinen-Ayech's "Flower Arrangement over Lake Maggiore in Ticino, Switzerland, 1955" has been selected. Look forward to the digital summer exhibition of European artist colonies on the theme of "WATER" and visit the various artist colonies. More at: www.euroart.eu.