515 - Emil Nolde (1867 Nolde – Seebüll 1956)

Emil Nolde (1867 Nolde – Seebüll 1956) Friesenhof – Marsh Landscape and Farmhouse Under a High Sky, Seebüll Watercolor on Japanese paper. (Circa 1940). Approx. 16.5 x 27 cm. Signed lower right. The work is registered under the number “Fr.A.767” in the Ada and Emil Nolde Foundation, Seebüll, and will be included in the future catalog raisonné of watercolors and drawings. With a confirmation from Professor Dr. Manfred Reuther, Seebüll, dated May 4, 2006 (copy provided). • Expressive watercolor with an emotionally charged cloudy sky • Created in Seebüll, where Nolde began to create his own world in 1926 • Characterized by intense and fresh colors In 1926, Ada and Emil Nolde purchased a nearly empty plot of land, one kilometer from the Danish border. Today, this hilltop settlement is world-famous: Seebüll has since become inextricably linked with the memory of Nolde. The couple initially lived in an old farmhouse in the countryside before building a modern brick house with its own garden by the early 1930s. To this day, apart from Nolde’s buildings, Seebüll is home to only a few scattered farms and no other architecture. Then as now, this makes it possible to observe nature virtually uninfluenced by the disruptive factors of civilization. In this watercolor, Nolde allows us to share in such a view. Resembling a decorative element, we see the farmhouse on the horizon of the vast marsh landscape. The composition, however, is dominated by the spectacular colors of the North German sky. Clouds billow upward, and the sun bathes them in hues ranging from the brightest yellow to the darkest blue. Here, Nolde makes use of the technical possibilities of watercolor that he perfected: he allows the colors to flow into one another, building and structuring with strong pigments while simultaneously creating delicate textures through dilution. Exhibition: Emil Nolde. The Power of Color, Gallery and Artists’ House, Spiekeroog 2009. Provenance: Hauswedell & Nolte, Hamburg, June 4, 1977, Lot 1177; Private collection, Lower Saxony, acquired from the aforementioned; Hauswedell & Nolte, Hamburg, December 2, 2000, Lot 1189; Private collection, acquired from the aforementioned; Galerie Neher, Essen (2006); Private collection (2008); Christie’s, London, February 7, 2013, Lot 210; Private collection, Northern Germany, acquired from the aforementioned. Taxation: subject to margin scheme (VAT: Margin Scheme).