Between 1915 and 1926 Emil Nolde lived in Haus Utenwarf on the North Frisian-Danish west coast. The view shows the farm of Nolde's neighbor Boy Petersen and the nearby mill, a motif that he repeatedly depicted. Special attention is paid to the dramatic play of clouds, the dynamics of natural phenomena and the effects of reflections on the surface of the sea, the watercourses and the flooded marshland. Nolde is not primarily concerned with an anecdotal description of a particular region, but rather with the atmospheric peculiarity of the colors and the expression of a mood, so that a “landscape of the soul” is created rather than a topographical representation. Nolde succeeds in using only a few visual elements and almost purely painterly means to create an intensity that goes far beyond a simple landscape representation. Rather, in this painting, too, Nolde achieves the characteristic combination of symbolism and abstraction.
