INFOFLASH 94 – Impressionisms Routes® in the heart of Europe – The Solingen Artists Colony (Germany)

Serving diversity and European cultural identity

The work and creativity of the Solingen Artists’ Colony has received many awards in recent years. They experienced a renaissance and once again became the focus of the art world. In 2023, the Solingen Artists’ Colony became a new member of the Impressionism Routes© and the Cultural Route of the Council of Europe. It also became a partner member of the European Federation of Artists’ Colonies (euroart).

In 2024, the protagonist Bettina Heinen-Ayech was elected by the Women’s Council of North Rhine-Westphalia to the exclusive circle of the most important historical female personalities of Germany’s most populated federal state, North Rhine-Westphalia. Bettina Heinen-Ayech was honoured as a great artist and for her commitment as an ambassador for international understanding. In addition, Solingen painters Bettina Heinen-Ayech and Erwin Bowien have been added to pantheon.world by the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT). Over 2000 of the world’s most important painters, from antiquity to the present day, are ranked and visualised there. Bettina Heinen-Ayech and Erwin Bowien are now included in the world’s Who’s Who.

2025 will also be an important year for the appreciation of the Solingen Artists’ Colony. There will be a series of exhibitions in 3 countries : Germany, Netherlands and Switzerland, showing the works of the artists.

Traveling the world – the Solingen Artists’ Colony: Exhibition at the Dachau Picture Gallery from 31 October 2024 to 27 April 2025
Bettina Heinen-Ayech – From Solingen to the Orient: Exhibition at the Kunstverein Coburg e.V. from 25 January to 11 May 2025
Artists‘ Colony Solingen – Place of the Heart Swiss: About the important connection between the Solingen Artists’ Colony and Switzerland in Bremgarten near Bern, Switzerland from 15 to 29 March 2025
Erwin Bowien – an Artist in Exile in Egmond: An exhibition in honour of the German plein-air painter, pacifist and artist-in-residence Erwin Bowien in Egmond aan Zee, Netherlands from 26 April to 2 November 2025.
Bettina Heinen-Ayech – Between the Worlds: Städtische Galerie Schwalenberg from 6 July to 7 September 2025
Love of Faraway Places – The Solingen Artists’ Colony: Museum Villa Stahmer in Georgsmarienhütte, Germany from 18 May to 29 July 2025

Our membership of Impressionisms Routes® has created the conditions for bringing together the impressionist and plein-air painting of the Solingen Artists’ Colony in Europe and making it come alive. It has made it possible to network the European places and sites where the protagonists of the Solingen Artists’ Colony worked and presented their work and activities. This makes an important contribution to the preservation of European heritage, the development of a European cultural identity and international understanding. We are very proud to be a member of Impressionisms Routes© and to contribute to European democracy, diversity and cultural identity, as well as mutual enrichment across borders.

Georges LUCENET
Vice-Président and General Manager
IMPRESSIONISMS ROUTES®
www.impressionismsroutes.fr

Dr Haroun AYECH
Chairman of the Board
Bettina Heinen-Ayech foundation
mail@bettina-heinen-ayech-foundation.com

Bettina Heinen Ayech Foundation
Neuenkamperstrasse 163
42657 SOLINGEN, Allemagne

Erwin Bowien (1899-1972): Im Vaporetto in der Lagune von Venedig, 1954, Photo Daniela Tobias
Bettina Heinen-Ayech (1937-2020): Sommergewitter in Algerien, 1971, Photo Daniela Tobias
Erwin Bowien (1899-1972): Das Tödimassiv in der Schweiz, 1955, Photo Daniela Tobias
Erwin Bowien (1899-1972): Der Strand von Egmond aan Zee, 1937, Photo Daniela Tobias
Bettina Heinen-Ayech (1937-2020): Doppeltes Selbstbildnis in Norwegen, 1960, Photo Daniela Tobias
Bettina Heinen-Ayech (1937-2020): Agaven am Lago Maggiore in der Schweiz, 1955, Photo Daniela Tobias

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