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Impressionist & Modern Art
3229 EMIL NOLDE(Nolde 1887 - 1956 Seebüll)
Around the lake of Ruttebüll. Circa 1920.
Watercolour and ink on Japan.
Signed lower right: Nolde.
36,5 x 44,5 cm.
We thank Dr. Manfred Reuther for the
friendly assistance and for confirming
the authenticity of the work, Klockries, 17
October 2017.
The work is registred in his archive under
the number "Nolde A-52/2017".
Provenance: Private collection,
Switzerland.
Emil Nolde's landscape watercolours are
among the outstanding works of his oeu-
vre. The works are characterised by their
vibrant tones and strong contrasts, flowing
colours and expressionistic intensity.
The watercolour technique accompa-
nied Nolde throughout his entire artistic
practice, a primary reflection of the artist's
diversity. The watercolour offered here
also presents such a work typical of Nolde.
It was created around the year 1920. The
work shows the amphibious landscape of
the Wiedau lowlands at Ruttebüll Lake, a
locality near Seebüll and also near his bir-
thplace. In 1909 Nolde stayed for the first
time in the small village near the Danish
border, where he would later settle for 10
years starting in 1916. This location would
have a formative influence on his entire la-
ter work: "My style of the last years to draw
and paint copying nature and creating
form – as completely as possible with the
first stroke or first colour – was no longer
enough for me. Drawing, I had wiped and
scraped the paper until the ground was
perforated in order to capture something
else, and more than before, something
more profound. The path of Impressio-
nism suggested to me only a means, not a
goal that was satisfactory." (cited in: "Jahre
der Kämpfe". 1902-1914, p. 120). The path
to expressive painting was thus consum-
mated in Ruttebüll. Nolde was no longer
satisfied painting nature as it is. He was
instead interested in reinterpreting nature,
developing it into a work of art through
the "addition of one's own soul and spirit"
(cited in: ibid, p. 20).
The free use of colour became increa-
singly present and eventually a central
character in his works. Our work presents
a splendid example of Nolde's expressio-
nism and use of colour, as seen in the ren-
dering of the sky and water in wonderful,
night-time shades of blue and violet, in the
yellow and red clouds reflecting in the lake,
and in the lush green of the meadow. On
the one hand, the colours stand apart from
each other in individual fields, and yet they
flow into one another at the same time.
In addition to this new vision of art, Nolde
started to employ other materials. Thus,
from the 1910s onwards, he explored
the use of Japan paper and chose this
as the support for his watercolours. This
served to develop the penetration of
the pigments, the dissolution and the
fusion of contours, and is an essential
characteristic of Nolde's watercolours.
The landscape around Utenwarf and the
Ruttebüll lowlands provided motifs for
numerous watercolours which the artist
made during his stay there. Our work is an
impressive example showing the strength
and intensity Nolde skilfully brought to his
watercolours.
CHF 80 000 / 120 000
(€ 71 430 / 107 140)