Former Pension Wisse

Name: Former Pension Wisse and Piet Mondrian
Address: The building no longer exists. It stood near the present-day Ooststraat 9 in Domburg, at what was then Ooststraat 4a.

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With the help of historical material and walking or cycling routes you can now literally follow in the footsteps of Mondrian. Discover how he traveled to the countryside to paint landscapes, how the Zeeland light and Brabant farms inspired him, how he was interested in music and dancing, which friends he made and which places he liked to visit.

About the Gifted Art Foundation's mission

The website was developed by the Gifted Art Foundation. The Gifted Art Foundation is a Dutch foundation that supports cultural projects in the field of 19th and 20th century Dutch art and aims to bring art closer to the public: the Mondriaan Route propagates this. It is the second project that the foundation itself has initiated. Previously, they developed Van Gogh Route.

The Mondriaan Route was created in collaboration with the Kunstmuseum Den Haag and the RKD - Netherlands Institute for Art History. We are still working on the website and are continuing to build on technical components and content. We are therefore very curious about feedback. We would like to hear your experiences via info@mondrianroute.com.

The building no longer exists. It stood near the present-day Ooststraat 9 in Domburg, at what was then Ooststraat 4a.

The historic address is Ooststraat 4a.

I stayed at Pension Wisse in 1909.

After getting to know Domburg in 1908, Piet Mondrian visited the village twice in summer 1909 with his friend and fellow artist Kees Spoor.

Cornelis Spoor / Self portrait / 1886-1900

Pension Wisse

In June 1909 Mondrian and Spoor stayed at Hotel Schuttershof. When they returned to Domburg later that summer – it is unclear exactly when – they opted for Pension Wisse, run by the former farmer Ko Wisse and his wife, Maatje Wisse-Louwerse. Mondrian probably stayed here again the following year.

M. Scheijbeler / Ooststraat in Domburg; Pension Wisse is third from the left , ca. 1910 / ca. 1910

Fotograaf onbekend / Maatje en Johanna Louwerse in de tuin van Pension Wisse

Sitting outdoors

Albert van den Briel, a friend of Mondrian’s from Wageningen, stayed with him and Spoor for a few weeks in 1909. Van den Briel recalled,

“Mondrian usually worked outside, and sometimes in his and Spoor’s sitting room. But he preferred being outdoors, sometimes doing nothing, just looking about quietly, sitting on the Hoge Hil or in the woods.”

Johan Herman van der Laag / Albert van den Briel met Mondriaans hond Beppie / ca. 1906

Zeeland portraits

Though Mondrian concentrated on painting the dunes and church towers that summer, he also painted two portraits. One, Zeeland Farmer, was of the pension keeper Ko Wisse, and the other was of his eldest daughter, Adriana Maria, also known as Joanne. She recalled sitting for Zeeland Girl in the garden, with Mondrian working at the kitchen table, which had been moved outside.

De kinderen Wisse, v.l.n.r. Joane, Piet en Wanne (Johanna), vermoedelijk met een Belgische schilder, volgens de familieoverlevering met Piet Mondriaan, in de tuin van Pension Wisse in Domburg

Fotograaf onbekend / De kinderen Wisse, v.l.n.r. Joane, Piet en Wanne (Johanna), vermoedelijk met een Belgische schilder, volgens de familieoverlevering met Piet Mondriaan, in de tuin van Pension Wisse in Domburg / ca. 1911-1912

Piet Mondrian / Zeeland girl / 1909-early 1910

An explosion of colour

Zeeland Farmer and Zeeland Girl are colour experiments. Working with a shimmering palette predominantly made up of reds and blues, Mondrian went well beyond attempting to achieve a good likeness of either subject. According to a source at the time, he was seeking to represent “the psyche of every farmer”. The portraits were radical in their daring use of colour and uncompromising contrasts.

Piet Mondrian / Zeeland farmer / 1909-early 1910

Cornelis Henning / Ko Wisse, Mondriaans huisbaas / ca. 1910

Walk to Former Pension Wisse

Former Pension Wisse is part of our "By the seaside" route

By the seaside

Piet Mondrian likes to visit Domburg. The dunes, the sea, the bright light, they are all still the same. This walk takes you past the most beautiful places in Domburg and shows the seaside resort as Mondrian saw it.