Emil Nolde

Private Collection, New York,
where acquired by the parents of Saretta Barnet, circa 1960s

Executed on Japan paper which has not been laid down. It has been hinged at the verso of the top left and top right corners. The pigments are strong. There is uniform time fading commensurate with age. There are pin dots spots of foxing scattered throughout the composition (as visible in the catalogue illustration). There is a mat stain around the periphery of the sheet, measuring no more than 1/8 inch in width. There are minor pin dots of pigment loss to the red flower in the lower right quadrant. These do not detract from the overall look of the work. There are very minor nicks of the paper around the extreme edge of the sheet in the periphery. There is a pin dot puncture to the lower left corner.
In response to your inquiry, we are pleased to provide you with a general report of the condition of the property described above. Since we are not professional conservators or restorers, we urge you to consult with a restorer or conservator of your choice who will be better able to provide a detailed, professional report. Prospective buyers should inspect each lot to satisfy themselves as to condition and must understand that any statement made by Sotheby's is merely a subjective qualified opinion.
NOTWITHSTANDING THIS REPORT OR ANY DISCUSSIONS CONCERNING CONDITION OF A LOT, ALL LOTS ARE OFFERED AND SOLD "AS IS" IN ACCORDANCE WITH THE CONDITIONS OF SALE PRINTED IN THE CATALOGUE.

Emil and Ada Nolde moved to the village of Notsmarkov on the island of Alsen in the North Sea in 1903. They rented a fisherman's cottage (fig. 1) and set about creating the subject for some of the artist's most important works: the garden. His fourth stay on the island in 1906 marked the start of a fruitful, intensive phase of creativity when Nolde adopted a new powerful use of color. Manfred Reuther notes that “wherever Nolde lived, he tried to reshape his surroundings and to create flower gardens; in Alsen, at his house at Utenwarf by the North Sea, and later... at Seebüll. He longed for harmony with nature, to which he had felt so close and unbroken an affinity since early childhood.” ¹ The present work is an outstanding example of Nolde’s immersion into the world of color in his attempt to capture the essence of the natural world. He developed an open brushwork, free of any harsh outlines, to let the pigments expand into fields of colors, almost like the blossoms themselves. He would take as a starting point easily identified localities or close-ups of flowers, rather than embarking on large scale panoramic views.

The artist's engagement with this particular subject matter also demonstrates Nolde's interest in the work of Vincent van Gogh, particularly in one of his most iconic subject matters—still-lives of flowers. During the 1920s and early 1930s Nolde visited several exhibitions of the Dutch artist's work; which included among others, the major van Gogh retrospective at the Galerie Paul Cassirer in Berlin in 1928. The fervent dedication to expression and symbolic use of color exhibited in van Gogh's works matched Nolde's own deeply held ideology. The artist wrote: "I loved the music of colours... Yellow can depict happiness and also pain. Red can mean fire, blood or roses; blue can mean silver, the sky or a storm, each colour has a soul of its own."²

The culmination of these theories can be found in his flower paintings and watercolors such as the present work: "The glowing colors of the flowers and the purity of the colors—I loved it all. I loved the flowers in their destiny: shooting up, blossoming, bending, fading, thrown into a ditch. A human destiny is not always so fine."³  As a keen observer of his surroundings and deeply immersed in nature, Nolde was one of the few painters of his time to translate flowers into a powerful painterly expression in such a persuasive and compelling way.

1. M. Reuther in Emil Nolde (exhibition catalogue), Whitechapel Gallery, London 1996, p. 119

2. Martin Urban, Emil Nolde Landscapes, New York 1969, p. 16

3. Emil Nolde, Jahre der Kämpfe, Cologne 1967, p. 100

Fig. 1, Emil and Ada Nolde at the Fisherman's House on the island of Alsen, circa 1910



The authenticity of this work has been confirmed by Dr Manfred Reuther.