Daniel Richter on Emil Nolde

Emil Nolde was a Nazi – and so what asks contemporary German artist Daniel Richter. “It’s a moralistic debate. A debate that mirrors the moralism and bigottery of a generation that seems to think that the world is a moral playground.” Emil Nolde’s relationship to the Nazi-regime in the Third Reich has given rise to immense discussions within the last months. For decades the broader public had a picture of Nolde being one of the “entartete” artists as well as being prohibited painting by the Nazi-regime. Though this on the surface is true it was the result of a great disappointment to Nolde. For years he had strived to become “the” artist of the Thrid Reich praising his own art as true German anti-French and anti-Jewish. Possible competitors within the German art world like Max Pechstein he actively denounced to the Nazi authorities.