Emil Nolde reflected his perception as an artist in his representations of people; how he experienced and especially perceived them. In the “Worten am Rande” (marginal notes) of 26 May 1944, he noted: “My artistic gift reacts more to the emotional in people than to the outwardly physical.” This might make it more difficult for the viewer to approach the nameless portraits. One must trust one’s own perceptions and read the works from out of oneself. Emil Nolde’s second wife, Jolanthe Nolde, determined looking back at the life’s work: “People only have difficulties with the figural paintings because they don’t understand that everything represented, whether sunflower, cloud, animal, landscape or person, are elements of form for the artist, with which he has free reign. One sticks closer to nature and thus to the outer impression, the other attempts to design people more like he perceives them in their essence – this is often the case with Nolde.”
