Frei Schwimmen Translation

The nature aesthetic of the life reform movement

The painter Christian Landenberger (1862-1927), a native of Ebingen, found the ideal motif for his open-air paintings in the depiction of children bathing. Self-forgetful and introverted, the boys enjoy the closeness and freshness of the water. In the spirit of the life reform movement of the 1900s, they thus return to the bosom of unspoilt nature. Landenberger, who was a professor at the Stuttgart Academy and ran a private art school, also made this motif the subject of his painting class. The young Willi Baumeister visited his teacher at the Ammersee and nevertheless set other accents in his bathing scene with bistro table and parasol.

The baths for the poor in Baden-Baden

In the early modern period, the state and wealthy spa guests financed ‘poor baths’ in bathing resorts. There, the needy received free spa treatments as well as cheap accommodation and food. These facilities did not offer any comfort. The poor baths on the market square in Baden-Baden were completely run-down around 1800 and were replaced by a new building on the outskirts of the town in 1810. This made room for prestigious buildings in the centre. In addition, wealthy spa guests were presumably spared the sight of the poor baths and its guests. In 1818, the painter Johann Schaffroth captured the interior of the old building shortly before it was demolished. The plan of the new baths shows that, in addition to individual baths, a larger pool was also planned. Strict attention was paid to the separation of the sexes.

Mysterious workshops of soothing spirits – the ‘princely’ mineral baths

The competing ‘princely spas’ in Bad Wildbad and Baden-Baden, which could look back on a medieval and, in the case of Baden, even ancient spa tradition, were developed into sophisticated, international health resorts in the mid-19th century. In addition to their natural mineral water resources and the connection to the railway network, they benefited from the patronage of the ruling royal houses. In the early 1840s, King Wilhelm I of Württemberg responded to Baden-Baden’s rapidly growing number of guests. Together with his court architect Nikolaus Friedrich von Thouret (1767-1845), he initiated the construction of the new Wildbad spa centre with the Graf Eberhardsbad and the Badhotel. Lavish décor and lavish splendour were intended to appeal to a privileged clientele.

After the annexation of the Grand Duchy of Baden to the German Reich and the nationwide ban on gambling in 1872, Baden-Baden’s previously neglected spa industry came to the fore. Within just two decades, three large thermal baths were built, which could be sure of the special esteem of the Margraves of Baden. Since the Middle Ages, the princely house had been responsible for marketing the thermal water springs. Grand Duke Friedrich I of Baden not only lent his name to the palatial Friedrichsbad, the most lavish and beautiful in Europe at the time. He had portraits of himself and his wife Luise hung in special picture frames with antique water motifs in a central position in the large lobby on the first floor. The architecture of the Friedrichsbad was modelled on the Baths of Caracalla in Rome.