Flower Garden 1908

Emil Nolde made this painting, called Flower Garden, with oil on canvas. I imagine Nolde, sleeves rolled up, really going for it, wrestling with the canvas. The brushstrokes are these staccato jabs of color – oranges, greens, blues – colliding and merging. You can almost feel him right there, working quickly, trying to capture the fleeting moment of the garden in full bloom. I think he wanted to record an experience, rather than to present a picture. It's like he's saying: "I'm here, painting this, and everything is moving." There is a really physical quality, the way the paint is built up, thick in some places and thin in others. Nolde's work reminds us that artists are always in conversation, riffing off each other's ideas and pushing the boundaries of what painting can be. This piece is a reminder that painting is a language that embraces ambiguity, allowing for endless interpretations.