Toimetised 12. Natuuri rikkus

Realism, the European art movement which studied the relationship between art and truth, developed in various directions and went through different stages. Starting in the second quarter of the 19^th century, the Düsseldorf Academy of Arts, together with the artist community of the city, established a school of painting, creating a long tradition of studying nature, and influencing the development of art in several countries. Many artists from Scandinavia, Russia (including Estonia and Livonia) and America came to study at the Düsseldorf Academy. The appointment of the Estonian-born artists Eugen Dücker and Eduard von Gebhardt as professors of the academy in the 1870s encouraged a whole generation of art students from Estonia to choose the Düsseldorf Academy for their further art studies. In addition to numerous Baltic German artists, representatives of the younger generation, such as Paul Raud and Oskar Hoffmann, also received their art education in Düsseldorf.    

The Düsseldorf School brought realism to Estonian art in all of its diversity. It was a level-headed and true-to-life art, with occasional lapses into satire or sentimentality, which at the end of the 19^th century increasingly incorporated the achievements of plein air painting and impressionism.

The book is available in German and Estonian.