The banks of the Moselle
Nico Klopp spent his early years in Bech-Kleinmacher, a small place on the edge of the Moselle river in south-eastern Luxembourg. His hands first learned the craft of art at the Arts and Crafts School in Luxembourg City. Later, he moved through Cologne and Weimar between 1916 and 1920, finding his way into the textures of woodcut and linocut prints. These years away from home shaped how he saw lines and surfaces.
When he returned to Luxembourg, he settled in Remich. He spent much of his time looking at the bridge over the Moselle, capturing it in paint. His work often focused on the landscapes and still lifes of this specific region. He used bright colors and thick, solid strokes that made the subjects feel heavy and present on the surface.
A break from tradition
By the middle of the 1920s, Klopp felt a pull away from the older styles of the nineteenth century. He looked toward the methods of Vincent van Gogh and Paul Cézanne to find a new way of seeing. This led him to move away from the Cercle artistique de Luxembourg. In 1927, he helped found the Salon de la Secession, working alongside Joseph Kutter, Claus Cito, and Harry Rabinger. This group was moved by the secessionist movements seen in Munich, Vienna, and Berlin.
His role within this movement was active; he served as the secretary of Luxembourg's Secessionists from 1926 to 1930. His work during this period combined the formal language of post-impressionism and expressionism with the familiar sights of his native Moselle region. He also worked on prints for various publishers and magazines to sustain his life as a full-time artist.
The final years
Klopp's time as an artist was short, marked by a high volume of work before he died in Luxembourg City on 29 December 1930. He was only 36 years old. His paintings and prints traveled to various exhibitions in places like Trier, Nancy, Bruges, and Echternach.
The traces of his work remain in collections such as the Musée d'Histoire et d'Art and the Nationalmusée in Luxembourg. His pieces often show a specific interest in:
- The movement of water and bridges in Remich
- The use of graphic outlines in portraiture and nude figures
- The heavy application of color layers in his landscapes
- The precision of woodcut and linocut techniques
