Scribes (Schriftgelehrte)

1909

Poisoned water: a brush with death

In 1909, at the age of forty-two, Nolde nearly died after drinking poisoned water; the experience hastened his turn to religious painting.

1910

Expelled from the Berlin Secession

In 1910, after a disagreement with the leadership, Nolde was expelled from the Berlin Secession, of which he had been a member since 1908.

1910–1912

First success at exhibitions in Hamburg, Essen and Hagen

In 1910–12 Nolde had his first success at exhibitions in Hamburg, Essen and Hagen.

1912

Exhibits with Kandinsky’s Blaue Reiter

In 1912 Nolde exhibited with Wassily Kandinsky’s Munich-based group Der Blaue Reiter; by then he had achieved some fame and could support himself through his art.

1913–1914

An expedition to New Guinea by way of Russia and Asia

In 1913–14 Nolde travelled to the Southern Hemisphere as a member of the Medical-Demographic German New Guinea Expedition of the Imperial Colonial Office; a famous series of his paintings covers the journey, with the South Seas, Moscow, Siberia, Korea, Japan and China.

1920

Takes Danish citizenship

Having taken a dim view of the clashes and of the drawing of the German-Danish border after the First World War, Nolde took Danish citizenship in 1920, although he considered himself a German, and kept it for the rest of his life. He had attended a German school and believed that Schleswig and Frisian blood were mixed in him.