Emil Nolde

Grovesnor Gallery, Londres
Vente : Finarte, Milan, 22 novembre 1961, lot 110
Dr Benfer, Italie
Par descendance au propriétaire actuel

Executed on wove paper, laid down on board. There are some faint flattened creases, mostly in the upper right quadrant, and a slight waviness to the sheet in the lower left corner, which are inherent to the laying down process. Apart from some minor rubbing marks along the edges and some light time-staining, this work is in good condition.
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signed 'Nolde' (lower right), watercolour on paper. Executed circa 1925-30.

Cette œuvre est un superbe exemple de la série des Tournesols qu'Emil Nolde enrichira tout au long de sa carrière. Cette composition, exécutée vers 1925-1930, est empreinte d'une atmosphère dramatique qu'accentue le cadrage particulièrement oppressant choisi par l'artiste. Cette tension latente, présente dans diverses œuvres de l'époque, fait sans doute écho aux saisissants paysages nordiques dont Nolde est originaire. On sait en effet l'attachement de l'artiste pour l'Allemagne et sa terre natale qui n'a cessé de l'inspirer : portraits de paysans et superbes paysages rappellent cet enracinement tellurique. 

Nolde s'attache ici au motif des Tournesols plantés dans son jardin et témoigne par ce sujet de sa prédilection pour l'œuvre de Vincent van Gogh, et particulièrement pour ses iconiques représentations de tournesols. Au cours des années 1920 et 1930, Nolde a en effet put admirer plusieurs expositions consacrées au peintre néerlandais, parmi lesquelles sa rétrospective majeure organisée à la galerie Paul Cassirer à Berlin en 1928. Dans cette troublante composition, Nolde reprend ainsi le motif de son prédécesseur qu'il imprègne d'une mystérieuse et grave exhalaison.

The present work is a superb example of the great series of sunflower paintings that Emil Nolde enriched throughout his career. This composition, executed circa 1925-30, is imbued with a dramatic atmosphere accentuated by the artist's choice of a particularly oppressive crop. This latent tension, present in many of his works of this period, no doubt echoes the dramatic northern landscapes of Nolde's birthplace. Nolde's attachment to Germany is well known and his native land never ceased to inspire him: portraits of peasants and magnificent landscapes recall these telluric roots.

In the present work, Nolde depicts the sunflowers which he had planted in his garden and in doing so also attests to his predilection for the work of Vincent Van Gogh, and his iconic sunflower paintings in particular. During the years 1920 to 1930, Nolde was indeed able to admire the work of Van Gogh at several exhibitions dedicated to the great Dutch post-Impressionist, including the major retrospective organised at the Paul Cassirer gallery in Berlin in 1928. In this troubling composition Nolde takes up the motif of his predecessor, imbuing it with a deep and mysterious exhalation.