Fresh Air, Light and Sun Life Reform Movement and Nordic Heroes

Liberation from the sullenness of the overloaded bourgeois dwelling, a new diet, outdoor exercise, nudism: towards the end of the 19th century, various groupings in Germany called for a reform of life. Individual impulses, among them ›Swedish Gymnastics‹, were absorbed from Scandinavia, the Sera circle around the German publisher Eugen Diederichs celebrated the summer solstice with Swedish folk dances, while the painter Fidus glorified the ›Nordic‹ man.

Many Germans were enthusiastic about the adventurous journeys of Nordic discoverers Fridtjof Nansen and Sven Hedin as well as the reformist educational principles of Swedish writer Ellen Key.