For the first time, Frankfurt’s Städel Museum has succeeded in presenting the artist’s work in an extensive retrospective in a worthy and multifaceted manner. Emil Nolde’s work is best known for his luminous seas of blossoms or roaring seascapes, but the artist also created an immense number of other themes. While the artist’s early and late works are usually barely acknowledged, […]

For the first time, Frankfurt’s Städel Museum has succeeded in presenting the artist’s work in an extensive retrospective in a worthy and multifaceted manner.

Emil Nolde’s work is best known for his luminous seas of blossoms or roaring seascapes, but the artist also created an immense number of other themes. While the artist’s early and late works are usually barely acknowledged, Felix Krämer, curator of the exhibition and head of the collection, has set himself the task of focusing on these in particular. With around 140 works by the artist, including around 60 oil paintings, the show symbolizes the diversity of the expressionist and his work.

Hans Emil Hansen, the artist’s birth name, was born in 1867 in the village of Nolde, on the German-Danish border. After attending an adult education center and training as a wood sculptor, he received instruction as a commercial draftsman and taught art himself from 1892. After marrying the actress Ada Vilstrup in 1902, Nolde took his artist’s name after his birthplace and joined the artists’ group “Die Brücke” in 1906 and the Berlin Secession in 1908. In 1913, Nolde finally took part in the New Guinea expedition of the Reich Colonial Office and discovered his fondness for South Sea paintings.

As an avowed National Socialist, Nolde awaited the seizure of power by the terrorist movement until he was finally banned from working in 1941. Nolde died in 1956 at the age of 88.

The exhibition shows numerous works from all phases of his life. In particular, exhibits from the period after 1941 are now being presented to the public at the Städel. The focus of the exhibition is on Nolde as a multifaceted and thematically rich artist. From an editorial point of view, the expansion of the field of vision to include the artist’s entire oeuvre is very successful.

On two floors, arranged chronologically according to his life, the exhibition presents exhibits from the Nolde Foundation in Seebüll that are already known to the public, but also previously unknown exhibits based on new scientific findings. In many places, the viewer will feel reminded of the well-known, colorful works. But they will also get to know a new Emil Nolde, who loved the South Seas, explored Berlin’s nightlife and was strongly attracted to curiosities. All in all, a new perspective on one of the most famous artists of the 20th century!

The exhibition will be taken over by the Louisiana Museum of Modern Art in Humblaek after the presentation in Frankfurt (July 04 – October 19, 2014).

Exhibition catalog: Krämer, Felix: Emil Nolde, Retrospective, Prestel Verlag, approx. 300 pages, 39.90 euros.

Photos: Städel Museum, Frankfurt