House of the Wannsee Conference
Max Liebermann - Summer Residence and Garden in Wannsee
In 1909 Max Liebermann purchased the last waterfront site in the Alsen colony, consisting of two plots of land for 145,000 Reichsmark. The painter, who lived in a house at Pariser Platz, later bequeathed to him by his father, since 1892 was very proud of having financed the ‘castle by the lake‘ solely by selling his paintings: ‘Nobody believed, that I would manage it in one and a half years.‘
Like his neighbour Johann Hamspohn, the director of AEG, had done before and like the industrialist Ernst Marlier, who had today’s memorial ‘House of the Wannsee Conference‘ built, would do six years later, Liebermann engaged the famous Paul Baumgarten, a pupil of Wessel, for the construction of his summer residence.
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Liebermann himself had a crucial influence on the planning of his country house. The house and the garden should form a unity. He took the simple elegance of patrician houses at Hamburg, which he had painted some years before, as a model. The art historian and director of the Hamburger Kunsthalle (Hamburg Art Gallery) Alfred Lichtwark, assisted the painter with the design of his garden. Albert Broder, the ‘Berlin Gardens Director‘ since 1910m, who had also designed the garden of the Hamspohn villa in no. 40 Am Großen Wannsee, carried out the work. The front garden was designed as a flower and kitchen garden. The painter had a simple gardener’s house constructed next to the Colomierstraße driveway. |
The central axis of the house linked the front garden to the garden facing the lake. The drawing-room was to the left of the dining room while the loggia was to the right of it. The living quarters were on the upper floor; all rooms were facing the garden. The artist also had a workshop there. The interior showed that Liebermann was a collector with a lot of expertise. Numerous paintings of French impressionists and realistic works of the 19th century aswell as the furnishings testified to this.
 Max Liebermann, 1918 |
 Max Liebermann, 1917 |
 Max Liebermann, 1926 |
One of the jewels of the Liebermann garden was the Otter Fountain of the sculptor August Gaul, which the painter had given to his wife Martha in 1909. On the advice of Lichtwark he placed it in front of the lilac bushes, which was the most beautiful place in the garden.
From 1914 onwards the Liebermann family spent the summer months in Wannsee. Here the painter found subjects for his paintings. Until the end of his life his house, his garden and the family in Wannsee were his prefered subjects.
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After the death of Max Liebermann the Nazis forced his widow to leave the house at Pariser Platz in autumn 1935. After the pogrom in November 1938 she also had to give up the house in Wannsee. Ohnesorge, the sports minister of the Reich, became the new owner of the house. In 1940 the artist’s villa became a holiday home for the employees of the Deutsche Reichspost (Post Office of the Reich).
After World War II the Municipal Hospital Wannsee moved into the country house. Since 1971 the summer residence of the artist has been leased to the German Underwater Club. In recent years there are growing efforts to put up a memorial to the most important German impressionist by reconstructing the garden and converting the house in ‘Am Großen Wannsee‘ into a museum. |
► The Liebermann family at the Alsen colony
► Homepage of the Max-Liebermann Society in Berlin ◄
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Update: August 31, 2004
