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Another German Expressionist —–Emil Nolde (1867-1956)

Emil Nolde had a very long life and witnessed many art styles during this life, soaked them up and made a style which is personal and highly recognizable as Emil Nolde. For me it is a something between Kirchner ( see last weeks blogs) and Gauguin. It is  pleasing in its appearance, but the use of primary colors makes it also unreal and typical for the BRUCKE group. Wikipedia mentions his interest in van Gogh …..

Emil Nolde (born Emil Hansen; 7 August 1867 – 13 April 1956) was a German-Danish painter and printmaker. He was one of the first Expressionists, a member of Die Brücke, and was one of the first oil painting and watercolor painters of the early 20th century to explore color. He is known for his brushwork and expressive choice of colors. Golden yellows and deep reds appear frequently in his work, giving a luminous quality to otherwise somber tones. His watercolors include vivid, brooding storm-scapes and brilliant florals.

Nolde’s intense preoccupation with the subject of flowers reflected his interest in the art of Vincent van Gogh

….. but take a look at this Gauguin and you see immediately what a mean.

left Gauguin and right Nolde . You can see the similarities in color and even some aspects of the composition look the same. Far fetched?….maybe a little , but for me Nolde stands much closer to Gauguin and even Chagall than to van Gogh.

There are Nolde publications available at www.ftn-books.com

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record sale JEAN-MICHEL BASQUIAT

The painting UNTITLED sold yesterday at Sotheby’s at a record price of over 110 million dollars. With this result it is the record holder of being the highest auction result by an American artist (until now). This result reminded me of the exhibition i have seen some seven years ago in the Beyeler museum.

In all my life this was for me one of the most important exhibitions i have ever seen. A really impressive overview of his paintings and good fortune for me to have seen it, because with auction results like this it will be almost impossible to organize any Basquiat exhibition in the future. Still, some more affordable Basquiat items are available at www.ftn-books.com