Besides the landscape, it is portraits and figures that define Nolde’s entire oeuvre. In addition to the classic portrait (which is rare for Nolde) or the fantasy portrait in single or group compositions, one finds biblical or family constellations like brother and sister or mother and child.
His rendering of the portrayed subjects is seldom classical in the sense of a faithful reproduction of the real physiognomy. Rather, Nolde attempts to bring to light the characteristics beyond a traditional and mimetic presentation.
The representation of the Young Family of 1949 with mother, father and infant, can be traced back to a small watercolour from the period 1938-1941, belonging to the so-called ‘unpainted paintings’, which today belongs to the Nolde Foundation in Seebüll. The oil painting deviates only in nuances from the watercolour and was created in 1949.
The subject of the family in a trio constellation immediately awakens associations with the thematic group of the religious paintings, a focus in Nolde’s work – especially with the Holy Family of Maria, Joseph and the little Christ child – the archetype of the ideal family. Biblical themes occupied Nolde, whose life had been defined by religion from earliest childhood, throughout his entire creative life.
