Emil Nolde was born Emil Hansen on August 7, 1867 in Nolde, Schleswig-Holstein,
Germany. He trained as a wood carver in Flensburg and then designed furniture
in factories in Munich, Karlsrube, and Berlin. From 1892 to 1897, he was a
professor of industrial design at the Saint-Gallen crafts museum. He found
commerical success with his postcards depicting the Swiss mountains as fairy tale
creatures, which finally gave him enough income to pursue his artistic dreams. In
1898, Nolde studied at the Friedrich Fehr private school in Munich and under the
tutelage of Adolf Holzel in Dachau in 1899. He tried to synthesize Symbolism and
Realism together in his art, drawing on his love for the art of Arnold Bocklin and
Wilhelm Leibl. Nolde gained his knowledge of the Impressionists when he studied
at the Academie Julian in Paris in 1900. While in Paris, he visited the Exposition
Universelle, which led to an interest in foreign cultures. In 1902, he married Ada
Vilstrup and changed his name from Emil Hansen to Emil Nolde. He took his
surname, Nolde, from his hometown.
Nolde’s bright, interesting colours, like those in Springtime in the Room, attracted
the attentions of the members of Die Brucke. The group asked him to join in 1906
and he remained a member until 1907. He is reputed to be the most independent
of the German Expressionists, because he did not stay with any of the
Expressionistic groups, although he did remain close friends with many of the Die
Brucke members. In 1908, Nolde joined the Berlin Secession, an advanced
exhibiting society. Between 1909 and 1913, Nolde painted many religious images.
These images include the Last Supper,Crucifixion,Christ, Pentecost, and the nine-part ployptych,
Life of Christ. Even though he was deeply involved in painting religious images, he
also painted pagan based images like Dance around the Golden Calf and Candle
Dancers. His painting, Pentecost, caused a rift in the Berlin Secession in 1910.
It was rejected along with works of other young artists and caused Nolde to write
a letter to the Secession’s President, Max Liebermann, attacking the leadership
and principles of the Secession. This letter caused Nolde’s dismissal from the
Secession. In response, Nolde and the other artists held their own exhibition
entitled the Neue Sezession in Berlin. Nolde exhibited with the Neue Sezession
until 1912.
Because of Nolde’s fascination with exotic, foreign cultures, he joined an
ethnographic and demographic trip to German New Guinea. This overland trip led
Nolde through Russia, Manchuria, Korea, Japan, China, Manila, and the Palau
Islands. The trip allowed Nolde to do many sketchings and watercolours of the
foreign people and places that he visited. 50 of these works were eventually
bought by the German Colonial Office as a demographic record of the places and
people. His trip through the South Seas was stopped by the outbreak of World
War I. The war caused Nolde to change his art style from painting urban
landscapes to painting cycles of nature and people from the Bible, fairy tales and
from his imagination.
When Nolde returned to Germany, he moved to Utenwarf and then, moved again,
in 1927, to Seebull, Germany. This house in Seebull became the future site of the
Siftung, Ada-und-Emil Nolde, a museum dedicated to the artist after his death.
The 1920s were a time of great success from Nolde. He had a biography
published and his first volume of letters was also published. For his sixtieth
birthday celebration, a large exhibition was held in his honor in Dresden. His first
volume of his four-volume autobiography appeared in 1931, the same year that he
was appointed a member of the Preussische Akademie der Kunste.
In 1933, Nolde refused to step down from this position even though he was under
pressure from the Nazi party to do so. In an interesting opposition to the Nazi
party doctrine, the National Socialist Student Union supported and nominated
Nolde for the president position of the united art schools; they were unsuccessful.
In 1935, the Nazis removed many of Nolde’s works from German museums and
they also took an additional 1052 pieces of his artwork, during their campaign
against “degenerate art.” In response to the Nazi control and to keep painting,
much of Nolde’s work during the 1930s was of flowers and landscapes.
Once again, in 1940, the Nazis took more of Nolde’s work and forbade him from
pursuing any work in the artistic arena. Interestingly, this order actually inspired
some of Nolde’s most haunting and beautiful watercolours like Great Gardner.
He painted over 1000 of these during this time period. He called them his
“unpainted paintings.” When the war was over, Nolde spent the remainder of his
life turning these small “unpainted paintings” into oil works. In 1947, he finished
writing and published the fourth volume of his autobiography entitled,
Reisen-Achtung-Befreiung. 1947 was also the year of his 80th birthday and he
saw his birthday enlivened with celebrations for him in Berlin, Kiel, Hamburg, and
Lubeck. He also received the award for his graphic work at the Venice Biennale
of 1950 and the French order Pour le merite in 1952. After receiving the French
award, Nolde did not leave Seebull again. He continued to paint, despite breaking
his arm, until his death on April 13, 1956.
