People in a Village Inn (Leute im Dorfkrug) 1911

Emil Nolde made this print, 'People in a Village Inn', and you can almost feel the scratch of the etching needle, digging into the metal plate. I can imagine Nolde, hunkered over his workbench, lost in thought as he works on this scene. Look at the way he’s scratched the lines to define these figures – they feel raw, almost primitive. It reminds me a bit of Munch, in how the mood is expressed through the sheer physicality of the mark-making. There’s a real sense of energy in the way Nolde carves out the image, like he’s trying to capture the feeling of a crowded, boisterous inn on a late night. That jagged line that forms the man’s mouth, for example, tells you everything you need to know about his state of mind. It's like a window into some raw, primal emotion. Artists are always riffing off each other, consciously or unconsciously, and Nolde is no exception. His bold approach to form and emotion is a reminder that painting, at its best, can be a form of direct, embodied expression.