Emil Nolde - Sturzwelle unter violettem Himmel, ca. 1930

 

EMIL NOLDE

Sturzwelle unter violettem Himmel, Um 1930

Aquarell

Object description

Storm wave under purple sky . Around 1930.
Watercolor.
Signed lower right. On Japan. 34.2 x 45.7 cm (13.4 x 17.9 in), the full sheet.

• In no other subject did Nolde come closer to abstraction than in the sea motifs
• The sea remains one of his most popular motifs until his death
• Sea and sky merge into a dramatic, expressive carpet of colors .

With a photo expertise from Prof. Dr. Manfred Reuther, at that time the Seebüll Ada and Emil Nolde Foundation, dated May 25, 2008 (copy).

PROVENANCE: Private collection, Switzerland.
Private collection Northern Germany (since 2007).

"It was as if the open air, the salty taste, the roaring waves spurred me on and made me happy. The wind was warm, fresh and invigorating, the walks on the firm sand along the sea my pleasure. I was opened up like blooming flowers It's the sun, artistically receptive to every sound and every smallest suggestion. "
Emil Nolde, Reisen, Ächtung, Befreiung (1919-1946), 1978, p. 102.

essay

The watercolor is part of a series of sea watercolors that are created on Sylt in summer and late autumn. It follows the tradition of the Autumn Seas series that Nolde painted on Als in 1910 and 1911. Since then, more works on this subject have followed almost every year. But it wasn't until 1920 that he began to use watercolors for marine motifs. The close emotional connection to the sea is probably common to all northerners and manifests itself as a permanently anchored motif in the artist's oeuvre. "Nolde painted the sea as an elemental being and as an apotheosis of light and infinity. [..] The complete immersion in the elemental force of nature to the dangerous limit of the possible, the becoming one with the aim of penetrating, grasping and let yourself be seized by them in order to then paint the picture from memory, far from the surface world, only following the power of imagination and the sensual attraction of the colors - no subject suited the painter any longer. Here he can give the flow of colors complete freedom in order to steer it confidently into a compositional order at the same time. " Nolde's depictions of the sea provide a view of the wildly moving water surface, over which an imposing sky arches. The water and the sky are staged in sections, descriptive details are dispensed with, a strip of the coast is rarely seen. These compositions, the spectacular visions of windy, stormy skies and dramatic turbulent seas concentrate on the subjective experience of the artist with the elements and forego any identifiable geographical detail in favor of a sensual, expressive rendering of nature. On the verge of non-objectivity, the determining element is color. The sole motif description is secondary, the experience of nature is a source of inspiration. But the goal is not a result that is bound up with naturalism, but rather the emphatically felt mood expressed by color, which has an independent aesthetic value. In no other subject did Nolde come closer to abstraction than in the marine motifs. Sea and sky merge into a furious, expressive carpet of colors. The sea green of the water stands in exquisitely nuanced contrast to the violet sky, the contours introduced with dark blue and black emphasize the threatening mood of the watercolor. The sea as the primordial mother of all life, threatening and tempting at the same time, is one of Nolde's great themes. He has always won new facets in his interpretations, probably fulfilled by the desire to let its very own element, the fascination of strength and unfathomability, take shape. [SM]