Pentecost

Title: Pentecost
Artist: Emil Nolde
Medium: Oil on canvas
Size: tbd.
Date: 1909
Location: Neue Nationalgalerie, Berlin.

Acts of Apostles 2:1-4 When the Day of Pentecost had fully come, they were all together in one place. And there was suddenly out of heaven a sound, as of a rushing mighty wind, and it filled the whole house where they were sitting. Then there appeared to them dividing tongues, as of fire, and one sat upon each one of them. And they were all filled with the Holy Spirit and began to speak with other tongues, as the Spirit gave them utterance.

Pentecost, the Feast of the Firstfruits, was a most appropriate time for the Spirit to come. The Feast was closely connected with Passover, just as the Spirit's coming would be connected with the saving events of the Lord's crucifixion and exaltation. The divine origin and supernatural character of the event is clear: the sound is from heaven and is like a violent wind, the tongues that appear seemed to be flames of fire. In the Old Testament such a loud sound often accompanied a theophany (Ex 19:16, 19; 20:18). A violent, rushing wind symbolizes the Holy Spirit (Ezek 37:9-14). The sound fills the whole house. What has arrived is an all-encompassing divine presence, and tongues like flames of fire also symbolize the Spirit of God, especially his power.

Emil Nolde (August 1867 – April 1956) was a German painter and printmaker. He was one of the first Expressionists and a member an influential group of German expressionist artists formed in Dresden. This painting, however, became the center of a row that split the Berlin Secession—one, of the most advanced exhibiting societies in Germany up until that time. Nolde’s primitivist treatment of this religious subject, rendered in glowing colors and bold, Expressionist brushwork, found little favor among the older members of the society. When Pentecost and the works of other younger artists were rejected, Nolde attacked the leadership and principles of the Secession in an open letter to its President, whereupon he was expelled from the association. Until 1912 he exhibited alongside other rejected artists in the Neue Sezession in Berlin.

Mockery

Title: Mockery
Artist: Emil Nolde
Medium: Oil on canvas
Size: 86 x 106 cm
Date: 1909
Location: Brucke Museum, Berlin.

John 19:2-3 The soldiers twisted together a crown of thorns and put it on his head. They clothed him in a purple robe and went up to him again and again, saying, “Hail, king of the Jews!” And they slapped him in the face.

Noldes's figures are large scale, crammed together in a constricting space. The result is crowded and claustrophobic. Nolde focuses our attention on the intense emotions of the event. Furthermore, the harsh drawing, agitated brushwork, and distortion of the figures enforce this feeling.

Emil Nolde (August 1867 – April 1956) was a German painter and printmaker. He was one of the first Expressionists and a member of Die Brücke, an influential group of German expressionist artists formed in Dresden in 1905. But for Nolde, the Third Reich brought defamation. His paintings were confiscated from the museums and his work was a special focus of the exhibition "Entartete Kunst" ("Degenerate Art"). From 1941 on he was prohibited from painting at all. Secretly he paint small scale watercolors which he called "unpainted pictures". After the war, between his eightieth and eighty-fifth birthday he gained various honors and awards. He is now considered to be one of the great painters of the 20th century, known for his vigorous brushwork and expressive choice of colors.

Christ Among the Children

Title: Christ Among the Children

Artist: Emil Nolde

Medium: Oil on canvas

Size: 86.8 x 106.4 cm

Date: 1910

Location: The Museum of Modern Art, New York.

Emil Nolde has created a canvas with three dominate forms: the bright colorful splendor of the right half, the color contrast between both halves of the canvas, and the dominating shape in the center. The gaze is first drawn to the right, with the remarkable tones of full red and bright orange. The prevailing mood is one of amusement and pure joy. This is underlined by the rich gesturing of the children, arms held high. The bright colors stand in contrast to the darkness of the left side which is occupied by five men with quiet skepticism on their faces. The center is held by the solid back of the figure of Jesus, painted in deep green blue tones, who turns to the merry children and the two mothers with their infants.

The connection between Jesus and the children is indicated not only by the fact that one child has arms flung around Jesus’ neck, but also by the color and quality of the opened eyes, singular in the picture with white sclera, representing a formative intention. The bright eyes of the child reflect the relationship with Christ. This light does not remain limited to the children and mothers, however, as is casts a glow across the faces of the adults on the left side. They have the choice, to remain in the dark area or to seize the possibility of stepping fully into the light. But Nolde directs the primary line of sight unmistakably on the attentive children, and thus on the message of Jesus as recorded in Mark 10:15-16 “‘verily I say to you, whoever may not receive the reign of God, as a child -- he may not enter into it;’ and having taken them in his arms, having put his hands upon them, he was blessing them.”

Emil Nolde (7 August 1867 – 13 April 1956) was a German painter and printmaker. He was one of the first Expressionists and a member of Die Brücke, an influential group of German expressionist artists formed in Dresden in 1905. He is considered to be one of the great oil painting and watercolor painters of the 20th century, known for his vigorous brushwork and expressive choice of colors.