Sunrise at the sea 1927

Emil Nolde made "Sunrise at the Sea" with what looks like watercolour - look at the transparency and the way it seems to bleed into the paper. There’s something raw and immediate in the way the marks are made, an economy of gesture. It feels like he’s trying to capture a fleeting moment, not just representing it, but almost re-enacting it. I’m drawn to the horizon line, that thin yellow stroke separating the fiery sky from the deep blue sea. It’s not a perfect line, it wobbles and fades, but it holds the whole composition together. It makes me think about the precarious balance between order and chaos. Nolde's paintings remind me a bit of Marsden Hartley’s landscapes, that same sense of longing and connection to nature. It’s like they’re both trying to get at something beyond the surface of things. Art isn't about answers, it’s about embracing the questions.