Poppies

1937

“Degenerate Art”: over a thousand works confiscated

The Nazis declared Nolde’s art degenerate: “The Life of Christ” became one of the central exhibits of the “Degenerate Art” exhibition (1937), and 1,052 of his works were removed from museums, more than those of any other artist; some of what was confiscated was sold and some destroyed.

after 1937

Asks Goebbels to reconsider his art

After this Nolde appealed to Joseph Goebbels to reconsider his art and produced many propagandist graphic works of antisemitic content; he also appealed in person to the Gauleiter of Vienna, Baldur von Schirach.

1941

Forbidden to paint: the “Unpainted Pictures”

In 1941 Nolde was forbidden to paint, even in private; embittered, he withdrew to Seebüll and secretly made small watercolours, burying them in the ground. He made about 1,300 of them in all and called them his “Unpainted Pictures”.

until 1941

A house and studio on the hill of Seebüll

After the land at Utenwarf was drained, Nolde and his Danish wife Ada Vilstrup moved to German territory, where the countryside reminded him of his native Nolde; on the high hill of Seebüll near Neukirchen the couple bought an old cottage and later Nolde built to his own design a new house with a studio, rising above the surroundings like a medieval fortress.

after 1945

After the war: honours and exhibitions again

After 1945 honours and numerous exhibitions awaited Nolde once more; he received the Pour le Mérite.

November 1946

His wife Ada dies

In November 1946 Nolde’s wife, the Danish actress Ada Vilstrup, to whom he had been married since 1902, died.