Nolde Museum, Neukirchen, Germany
Date visited: June 24, 2017
Time spent: 2 hours
Collection: Nolde prints, Paintings, Historic House
Website: http://www.nolde-stiftung.de/
I first visited the Nolde Museum back in January for work. And to be honest, I was more excited about being able to walk to Denmark than I was about being in the middle of nowhere in northern Germany in the dead of winter. It was cold, windy and I was working outside. But as always, Museums creep up on you and make you fall in love. My most recent visit was in June of 2017 to see the latest exhibition.
Emil Nolde was a 20th century German/Dutch painter/ printmaker who according to Wikipedia was one of the first oil painting and watercolour painters of the early 20th century to explore colour. While I was never one to take actual 20th century art history class, I do consider myself to be quite the Klimt and Schiele connoisseur. Which made me rather upset that I had never heard of this master before! This guy is freaking awesome, AND he married a 26 year old at 80, that sly fox.
If you don't like this, I don't like you
This year marks Nolde's 150th birthday (same age as Canada, y'all!), so they're celebrating quite properly! The exhibit on now is a collection of his "Meisterwerks", and many of his watercolours. His religious paintings are also on display.
HBD
The complex consists of his famous garden, the house, and a new building where you first enter to buy the tickets. This building has a small exhibition about his life, as well as your typical museum gift shop and an overpriced cafe. But this is also the only building with free WiFi and you're so close to the Danish border that cell service switches over. So if you're not Danish, make sure to connect before you leave so you can send all those Snapchats cause roaming charges will kill you.
The house itself sticks out like a sore thumb considering the area, but that's an artist for ya. When you enter, it's like Nolde never left... you know, minus the giant glass panel separating you from the living room. #Semantics. Nolde knew how to decorate though, I'll give him that.
What kind of real life cartoon magic is this?!
If you don't know anything about Nolde, and you were too lazy too click that Wikipedia link I so graciously set up for you, here are my top 5 pieces that can be found at the Museum. Keep in mind that they rotate the collection often so don't get all huffy at me if you drive all the way up there and some of these pieces aren't on display.
Junges Paar (Young Couple), Undated - Not to be confused with the other Junges Paar at MoMa
If you're up for a long drive, some gorgeous views, and if you want to feel like you dropped some acid from the explosion of expression and colour that Nolde has to offer, I highly recommend you visit this Museum and #EducateYourselves on North German artists.
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