Emil Nolde was one of the best colourists and watercolour painters, and one of the leading German Expressionists, of the 20th century. As a young artist, he was denied acceptance to the Munich Academy by Franz Stuck. Nolde went to Dachau near Munich, where he studied with Adolf Hölzel. The members of the „Brücke“, much younger than Nolde, requested him to become a member. Nolde was a member for less than two years, he did not want to tie himself to a group. But that short time of his membership resulted in a mutual enrichment: Fritz Bleyl, Erich Heckel, Ernst Ludwig Kirchner, and Karl Schmidt-Rottluff were impressed by Nolde‘s use of colours, Nolde became acquainted with wood cut, which the young colleagues of the Brücke had revived, and in turn brought them the technique of etching. He proposed accepting passive members and introduced Gustav Schiefler as the first. Nolde took part in eight collective exhibitions, among the legendary first Brücke exhibition in the lamp factory of Karl-Max Seifert in Dresden-Löbtau. After leaving the group and moving to Berlin he remained in touch with the artist colleagues, as a mentor and co-founder of German Expressionism.
Nolde loved flowers; everywhere he lived he planted a garden. He virtually created portraits of flowers, which achieve their greatest effect in his colourful watercolours. He also often depicted the vastness of the coast of Schleswig-Holstein and the ever changing sea in his pictures. Nolde’s great interest in foreign cultures and his South Sea journey of 1914 also led to him depicting exotic motives, masks and objects, which he collected. In 1927 Ada and Emil Nolde moved to Seebüll, where they built a house and a studio. Nolde lived and worked in Seebüll until his death in 1956; today the house and garden are part of the foundation Stiftung Seebüll Ada und Emil Nolde.
