
Erich Heckel德国, 1883–1970May 1915 – November 1918
The Ostend hospital: an artists’ colony
From May 1915 until the end of the war in November 1918 Heckel serves in the Ostend emergency hospital, housed in the railway station and home to a true artists’ colony: the orderlies paint, make woodcuts, read and discuss literature and poetry, and adorn the building with murals and window decorations. As a painter, he is most deeply impressed by the Flemish landscape and the North Sea, especially sunlight penetrating the unusual cloud formations.
1918
Returns to Berlin
Heckel returns to Berlin; the painting Spring (National Gallery, Berlin) is also dated 1918.
1919–1944
Annual summer trips to Osterholz
Every summer from 1919 to 1944 Heckel travels to Osterholz, where he works a great deal.