Date of Award
2026
Document Type
Dissertation
Degree Name
Master of Arts (MA)
Department
Art Business
Abstract
Emil Nolde is regarded as one of the most accomplished and innovative modernists. Celebrated for his varied iconographies expressed with thick, erratic brushstrokes, displaying highly saturated, non-naturalistic tonal contrasts, and pronounced, distorted forms. He often draws comparisons to Paul Gauguin and Vincent van Gogh. He died a national hero in Northern Germany, 1956, at 88 years of age. His oeuvre has inspired numerous artists, such as Georg Baselitz, Daniel Richter and Anselm Kiefer. Accordingly, his art has been exalted by institutions and converted by learned collectors, subsequently demanding huge sums.
The exhibition 'Emil Nolde. A German Legend. The Artist during the Nazi Regime' (2019) exposed the full extent of his rampant Nazism and antisemitism. Debunking decades of scholarly and cultural discourses that have presented him as an anti-fascist hero who defied censorship personally orchestrated by Adolf Hitler.
This study identifies three dominant ‘political biographies’ attributed to Nolde between 1937-2019, measuring their influence on determining his market value. Resultingly, this unique academic endeavour demonstrates the significant role the artist’s political image has had on his market.
Recommended Citation
Goodwin-Hudson, Samuel, "How have Emil Nolde’s Political Biographies Impacted his Market, from ‘Weimar Degenerate’ and ‘Dissident’, to ‘Complicit Antisemite’?" (2026). MA in Art Business Dissertations. 13.
https://digitalcommons.sia.edu/ma_art_bus/13