---
type: entity
title: Artist Colony Schwaan
tags: [artist-colony, landscape-painting, modernism]
related: [theodor-hagen, theoria-research-group]
created: 2026-07-13
updated: 2026-07-13
sources: ["output_cdfi/cdfi_uni_greifswald_de_kunstgeschichte_forschung_forschungsprojekte_lehrstuhl_pr.md"]
---

# Artist Colony Schwaan

The **Artist Colony Schwaan** was a community of painters in the town of Schwaan, established in the tradition of the Barbizon school.

## Development and Philosophy
The colony was founded through the initiative of Franz Bunke, who had studied under [[theodor-hagen]] in Weimar. The colony represented a paradigm shift in nature perception:
- **From Mimesis to Impression:** Moving away from the strict academic copying of nature toward a focus on individual impressions and emotions.
- **En Plein Air:** Emphasizing the study of nature directly on-site.
- **Opposition to Academies:** Like many artist colonies, it fostered a spirit of independence from formal academic conventions.

## Relation to Modernism
By breaking with the formal composition rules of the Renaissance and emphasizing subjective experience, the Schwaan colony and its peers laid the fundamental groundwork for the emergence of Modernism.
