Lot 68 Dα

From 1911 Emil Nolde occupied himself with non-European artefacts in his painting. He usually united these with typical objects from still lifes, such as flowers, fruits or vessels. Casually and freely – and at times with affection and humour – he combined pieces from his own constantly growing collection of African cult objects, Egyptian relics and Korean figures with seemingly incongruent objects to form stimulating compositions. In May 1930 Nolde wrote in this sense to the art historian Max Sauerlandt: “In depicting the ‘Exotic Figures’ I made no effort at all to somehow penetrate into the exotic art; for me, they were just objects like a pot or a flower would have been. It’s simply that, at the time, I wished to paint more interesting objects than the typical apples on a white cloth […]” (quoted in: exh. cat. Emil Nolde. Puppen, Masken und Idole, Hamburg 2013, p. 8).
He has not combined an exotic object with the two amaryllises in the watercolour up for auction here, “Amaryllis mit Figur”, but he has paired them with a small wooden Baroque Madonna. His painting technique utilising a broad brush and watery, delicate colours forms the flowers and the figure into a wonderful whole. Boldly cut off by the lower edge of the picture, the Madonna wearing a tall crown just reaches into the image. At the same time, the fully opened flower on the left is draped in such a way that it appears behind the Madonna like a gloriole. Because amaryllises flower around Christmas time, a thematic link can also be established in this watercolour featuring the Madonna and Child.