Emil Nolde

Margarete und Wilhelm Grosshenning, Dusseldorf (by 1950)

Private Collection, Germany

Galerie Margret Heuser, Dusseldorf

Waterhouse & Dodd, London

Private Collection, Luxemburg

Private Collection, Luxemburg (acquired from the above in 2001)

Galerie Thomas, Munich (acquired from the above in 2018)

Acquired in 2024 by the present owner

Dusseldorf, Galerie Margret Heuser, Herbstausstellung, 2000, no. 17, illustrated in colour

• The artwork reflects Nolde’s intimate connection with his surroundings in Seebüll, blending his life, home, and artistic expression into one unified vision
• Nolde’s fluid use of watercolor brings softness and immediacy, particularly in the girl's delicate features and luminous blue tones
• The painting documents the rural, archaic Frisian culture of North Germany, rooted in Nolde’s lived experience and respect for the region

Nolde's ‘Frisian Girl’ dates from a time in the artist’s life when he increasingly devoted himself to his immediate surroundings near his home Seebüll. Towards the end of the 1920s, the artist immersed himself in watercolors and the North German landscape, which would significantly shape his late work after the Second World War. His works from around 1925 to 1930 document the rural-archaic world of the Frisian people, an environment he not only shared but also made his home. The brick house in the North Frisian town of Neukirchen with its expansive garden provided him with motifs and impressions that the artist captured during this period. 

In this depiction, the Frisian girl presents herself in a gentle side profile, framed by her blonde hair. The flowing watercolor tones play around delicate facial features as her longing gaze speaks of Nolde’s dedication to the Frisian land. Nolde succeeds in creating a deep, emotional expressiveness with minimal graphic intervention and intense, guiding colors. The strong blue makes the depiction luminous. As Nolde rarely made sketches, the portrait must have been created through direct contact, perhaps in his studio in Seebüll – creating a sense of intimacy and momentariness in the depiction.

The Frisian girl stands uncannily on her own within Nolde's portraits, her fragile, almost vulnerable tenderness subtly emerging. In light of Nolde's increasing immersion in northern Germany, the work also reflects a turn towards an inner, almost meditative world. It is a quiet yet powerful portrait that bears both documentary and deeply personal traits. Nolde used his art to express his life; his place of artistic creation is also his place of residence. His life and his surroundings became the motif and content of his art. An expression of this interweaving can be found in the Frisian Girl, whose presence evokes a longing for the gentle landscapes of Friesland.