Emil Nolde

Frauenkopf en face (Rotes Haar) is a magnificent example of Nolde's mastery of the medium of watercolour. With its moving palette of vibrant red, blue and green tones, particularly visible in the woman's eyes and wonderfully rendered nose, the present work is reminiscent of the Fauve's expressive use of colours (fig. 1), which greatly influenced Nolde. The artist acknowledged that he often found it easier to treat a particular subject, such as faces, in the medium of watercolour rather than that of oil paint: 'With infinite labour I finally achieved that freer, broader and more fluent manner of depiction for which an especially thorough understanding and re-examination of the structure and character of the paper and the inherent possibilities of colour are indispensable. But at the same time, it demands above all a capacity for developing the sensitivity of one's eye' (E. Nolde, Reisen-Ächtung-Befreiung, Cologne, 1967, p. 27). The present work is one of the most powerful and expressive watercolours in Nolde's œuvre.