In his art, the important Expressionist Emil Nolde (1867–1956) possesses an almost inexhaustible wealth of pictorial ideas: they arise from the thematic spheres of people, landscapes and seas, flowers, and also figure paintings, among which his “biblical and legend pictures” are counted. The 70th Annual Exhibition illuminates the multilayered field of tension between people, nature and art in Nolde’s oeuvre. His powerful work is shaped by a deeply felt relationship with human beings and nature. Flowers, landscapes, seas and figures are not mere representations but become visible as inner experience. Nolde’s pictures express his emotional relationship to the world.
In the dialogue between people, nature and art, Nolde develops an image world of incomparable intensity and emotional force. In viewing it, he invites us to experience anew the relationship between people, nature and art. Nolde does not create intellectual art whose content becomes comprehensible only after intensive reading. His long‑time assistant Joachim von Lepel, who became founding director of the Foundation in 1956, recalls: “Nolde’s work is to be grasped less with the intellect than from the event itself, from the natural.” In his art, Nolde interweaves the existential themes of life: he paints wide landscapes into which we can immerse ourselves, colourful flowers that bring a happy smile to our faces, and in his emotionally surging sea depictions we can virtually plunge. In his pictures he shows us people whose emotions - from intimate closeness to cool distance - we can understand because we experience them ourselves just as much a century after their creation. Nolde does not merely depict his own world but reveals to us a fundamental world in all its ambivalence. With a view of Nolde’s vision of the world, we learn more about our own world.
Dr Christian Ring, Director of the Nolde Museum, develops each year a new “Annual Exhibition” from the rich artistic estate preserved in Seebüll. Since 1957, the Nolde Museum in Seebüll has shown in the annually changing exhibition an impressive selection of oil paintings, watercolours and prints that stand as exemplary for Nolde’s work. Alongside the well‑known masterpieces, rare pieces from his extensive estate are also presented. This year, 37 works are being shown in Seebüll for the first time. With the world’s largest collection of his works, Seebüll is the central place to immerse oneself deeply in the oeuvre of this significant artist.
