Emil Nolde – Anatomy of Light and Water

The exhibition comprises of 17 seascapes executed in watercolour by Emil Nolde between 1920 and 1946 in the region of Seebüll near the German-Danish border, where the artist spent most of his summer months.

Nolde (1867 — 1956) has not been exhibited in the UK since Colour is Light, a major presentation at The Scottish National Gallery of Modern Art, Edinburgh, in 2018. That was made up of close to 100 works, covering every aspect of Nolde’s artistic practice, including landscape paintings and portraits, watercolours and print works, and this is the first exhibition of his work in London in many years.

The exhibition, which has been assembled in association with Emil Nolde‘s Estate, the Nolde Foundation Seebüll, features works considered to be some of the most remarkable of the artist’s works on paper ever exhibited. The watercolours capture the transient moments of nature and human life with an unsurpassed vibrancy. Rich, luminous colours paired with the spontaneity of the medium create stunning impressions of the artist’s mind’s eye and experience. Often working with dampened Japanese paper and wet paint, this technique encouraged the interplay of colour and organic form. Nolde describes his approach to making art as striving for ‘absolute originality, the intensive, often grotesque expression of force and life in the simplest form.’ Powerful imagery matched with ‘violent colour’ create the foundation for the artist’s signature style.