Domburg, Oostkapelle, Vrouwenpolder

Domburg is a place where early twentieth-century artists loved to go to find inspiration for the most beautiful new works. Are you curious about what attracted them to the seaside resort? Cycle like Mondrian across Walcheren in Zeeland and return brimming with inspiration.

It was the summer of 1908 when painter Piet Mondrian went to Domburg for the first time. The newly opened steam tram between Middelburg and Domburg provides a good connection.

In recent years, Domburg has developed into a seaside resort for the elite. Aristocrats from all over Europe travel to the seaside resort for the healthy sea air, the beneficial effects of seawater, but above all for the presence of Dr Johann Mezger. This Amsterdam-born doctor is the avant la lettre physiotherapist of European nobility.

Apart from the wealthy, artists also find their way to Domburg. They mainly go to the Walcheren coast for the ‘Zeeland light’. The convergence of different currents off the coast of Domburg causes salt crystals to rise into the air. Together with the reflection of sunlight on the water, a special light is created.

Piet Mondrian came to Domburg mainly to visit Jan Toorop. That year, in Amsterdam, he saw the work of this impressionist artist who started to paint more and more pointillistically. Mondrian is impressed by the colours used by Toorop. Jan Toorop, who has been coming to Domburg every year since 1903, now has his own studio there. He creates beautiful paintings with bold brushstrokes in which the Zeeland light pops off the canvases.

The summer meeting between Mondrian and Toorop is a success, the two artists click. Mondrian also falls under the spell of the dune landscape, the forests and the characteristic Zeeland people. Despite his busy schedule, he travels to the seaside resort every year until 1916.

In Domburg, Mondrian befriended Jacoba van Heemskerck. The artist from The Hague had first travelled to Domburg in the summer of 1905. Like many other painters who arrived in Domburg, she first stayed at the chic Badhotel. From 1908, Jacoba stayed at Loverendale, the house her friend Marie Tak van Poortvliet had had built next to the Badhotel. Marie Tak van Poortvliet came from a wealthy family and collected art. She helped several Domburg painters by sharing her contacts and buying their art.

To sell art to a wider audience, Jan Toorop has a small wooden pavilion built in the dunes of Domburg. Several exhibitions were held in Toorop's ‘kotje’ from 1912, including the best works by Jacoba, Mondriaan and Toorop.

This cycle route takes you past a number of important sources of inspiration for Domburg's artists.

If you still can't get enough of the inspirations of these popular twentieth-century artists, you can check out more beautiful locations in the centre of Domburg. At Markt 9 sat Toorop's Atelier, opposite you will find Domburg's oft-painted church, a little further down you will find Elout Drabbe's Atelier at Weststraat 24, where the artists often worked. Also visit the various galleries in the village.

Painting Jan Toorop: The shell fisherman, Domburg 1904, Public Domain © Image Bank Rijksmuseum.

This premium route was compiled by our editor: Elwin Croeze