Emil Nolde

Born: 1867 | Died: 1956

Emil Nolde was born Emil Hansen near the village of Nolde in northern Germany. He spent his childhood living on a farm with his parents who were both devout Protestants. He officially changed his last name to Nolde after his birthplace in 1902, when he got married to Danish actress Ada Viltrup.

In 1906, Nolde briefly joined the Expressionist artist group “Die Brücke” (The Bridge). In 1913 and 1914, Nolde and his wife participated in an exhibition to the South Pacific and Indian Ocean. His watercolor paintings of landscapes were a result of this trip.

Nolde’s works were considered “decadent“ and condemned by the Nazi regime. More than a thousand of his works were confiscated from various museums. Nolde was prohibited from painting in 1941. He did however secretly paint hundreds of small watercolors, calling them “Unpainted Pictures“.

Emil Nolde is remembered in America and around the world as a painter and printmaker, and one of the greatest watercolorists of the 20th Century and as a German expressionist.

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