Red Evening Sky
- Artist
- Emil Nolde, German, 1867–1956
- Date
- 1915
- Material
- Oil on canvas
- made in
- Als, Sønderjylland county, Denmark, Europe
- possibly depicts
- Kavieng, New Ireland province, German Empire, Papua New Guinea, Oceania
Rabaul, East New Britain province, German Empire, Papua New Guinea, Oceania - Classification
- Paintings
- Current Location
- Not on view
- Dimensions
- 34 × 39 7/8 in. (86.4 × 101.3 cm)
framed: 45 × 51 in. (114.3 × 129.5 cm) - Credit Line
- Bequest of Morton D. May
- Rights
- Contact Us
- Object Number
- 924:1983
NOTES
In this incandescent view animated by three sailboats, the sky is streaked with fuschia and mauve, and the setting sun is reflected on the sea. Emil Nolde’s landscape is probably informed by his memories of the South Seas, which he had visited the previous year. Nolde believed that intense colors could evoke sounds as well as deep emotion; he wrote of “colors in vibration, pealing like silver bells and clanging like bronze bells, proclaiming happiness, passion and love, soul, blood, and death.”
Provenance
by 1920 - still in 1954
Dr. Peter Bade (1872-1956), Hanover, Germany, purchased from the artist; Dr. Alfred Hahn and Liselotte Bade-Hahn, Hanover, Germany [1]
Kestner-Gesellschaft, Hanover, Germany [2]
Commeter Gallery, Hamburg, Germany
- 1957
Moderne Galerie Otto Stangl, Munich, Germany [3]
1957 - 1958
New Gallery (Eugene V. Thaw), New York, NY, USA [4]
1958/12/04 - 1983
Morton D. May (1914-1983), St. Louis, MO, purchased from New Gallery [5]
1983 -
Saint Louis Art Museum, bequest of Morton D. May [6]
Notes:
The main source for this provenance is the catalogue raisonné on Emil Nolde, cat. 648 [Urban, Martin. "Emil Nolde: Catalogue Raisonné of the Oil-Paintings. Volume Two 1915-1951." London: Sotheby's Publications, 1990]. Exceptions and other supporting documents are noted.
[1] A 1920 exhibition catalogue lists the painting as from the collection of Dr. Peter Bade ["Neue Kunst aus Hannoverschem Privatbesitz / Architekturen von E. Mendelsohn. XXX Sonder-Ausstellung." Hanover: Kestner-Gesellschaft, January 8 - February 4, 1920, cat. 75]. Peter Bade was an orthopedist and politician. According to Dr. Manfred Reuther, Director of the Stiftung Seebüll Ada und Emil Nolde, Bade may have purchased the work when it was offered for sale during a 1918 exhibition at Kestner-Gesellschaft ["Emil Nolde, XII. Sonderausstellung." Kestner-Gesellschaft, Hannover, January 6 - February 6, 1918, cat. 29; letter dated March 14, 2006, SLAM document files].
The painting stayed in Bade's family until at least 1954 when his son-in-law, Dr. Alfred Hahn, lent it to an exhibition at Kestner-Gesellschaft ["Zeitgenössische Kunst aus Hannoverschem Privatbesitz". Hannover: Kestner-Gesellschaft, 1954, cat. 132]. Peter Bade's granddaughter, Dr. Ilse Hahn, informed the Museum that her grandfather purchased the work from his friend, the artist. She also confirmed that her parents, Liselotte Bade-Hahn and Alfred Hahn, saved the painting from bombs during World War II in their Hanover home [notes of telephone conversation between Dr. Ilse Hahn and SLAM provenance researcher Anabelle Kienle, April 12, 2006, SLAM document files].
To make matters confusing, the catalogue raisonné erroneously indicates that the original owner of the painting was Dr. Hermann Bode (1900-1977), a known collector from Hanover. It does not, however, include the 1920 catalogue which lists Dr. Peter Bade as the owner. Furthermore, the artist himself registered "Sanitätsrat Bade, Hanover" as the original owner of this work in his typed catalog of paintings, created in 1930. Without the 1920 exhibition catalogue documentation, Nolde's handlist notation was believed to be a typing error [letters from Dr. Manfred Reuther, Director of the Stiftung Seebüll Ada und Emil Nolde, dated June 22, 2001 and March 14, 2006, SLAM document files].
[2] According to Morton D. May's object records, and the 1970 catalogue of his collection, the Kestner-Gesellschaft is listed as owning the picture after "Sanitatsrat Bade, Hanover" and before it was owned or offered for sale through the Commeter Gallery ["The Morton D. May Collection of 20th Century German Masters." New York: Marlborough-Gerson Gallery, 1970, cat. 106; May Archives, Saint Louis Art Museum]. This reference, however, was not found in any other sources. Although the catalogue raisonné does not include Kestner-Gesellschaft in the history for this painting, the author does state that galleries and auctioneers who handled a painting are included in the provenance, even when they did not own the painting [Urban, v.1, p. 47].
[3] The painting is listed in the collection of Moderne Galerie Otto Stangl in a 1957 summer exhibition ["Gedächtnisausstellung Emil Nolde." Essen: Museum Folkwang, June 29 - September 1, 1957, cat. 97].
[4] The catalog for the exhibition at Eugene Victor Thaw's New Gallery from September 25 - October 26, 1957 does not indicate that this painting was on loan, suggesting it was in the New Gallery's collection by this time ["Emil Nolde." New York: New Gallery, 1957, cat. 5].
[5] Per May's object information sheet [May Archives, Saint Louis Art Museum].
[6] Last Will and Testament of M. D. May dated June 11, 1982 [copy, May Archives, Saint Louis Art Museum]. Minutes of the Acquisitions and Loans Committee of the Board of Trustees, Saint Louis Art Museum, September 20, 1983.
Dr. Peter Bade (1872-1956), Hanover, Germany, purchased from the artist; Dr. Alfred Hahn and Liselotte Bade-Hahn, Hanover, Germany [1]
Kestner-Gesellschaft, Hanover, Germany [2]
Commeter Gallery, Hamburg, Germany
- 1957
Moderne Galerie Otto Stangl, Munich, Germany [3]
1957 - 1958
New Gallery (Eugene V. Thaw), New York, NY, USA [4]
1958/12/04 - 1983
Morton D. May (1914-1983), St. Louis, MO, purchased from New Gallery [5]
1983 -
Saint Louis Art Museum, bequest of Morton D. May [6]
Notes:
The main source for this provenance is the catalogue raisonné on Emil Nolde, cat. 648 [Urban, Martin. "Emil Nolde: Catalogue Raisonné of the Oil-Paintings. Volume Two 1915-1951." London: Sotheby's Publications, 1990]. Exceptions and other supporting documents are noted.
[1] A 1920 exhibition catalogue lists the painting as from the collection of Dr. Peter Bade ["Neue Kunst aus Hannoverschem Privatbesitz / Architekturen von E. Mendelsohn. XXX Sonder-Ausstellung." Hanover: Kestner-Gesellschaft, January 8 - February 4, 1920, cat. 75]. Peter Bade was an orthopedist and politician. According to Dr. Manfred Reuther, Director of the Stiftung Seebüll Ada und Emil Nolde, Bade may have purchased the work when it was offered for sale during a 1918 exhibition at Kestner-Gesellschaft ["Emil Nolde, XII. Sonderausstellung." Kestner-Gesellschaft, Hannover, January 6 - February 6, 1918, cat. 29; letter dated March 14, 2006, SLAM document files].
The painting stayed in Bade's family until at least 1954 when his son-in-law, Dr. Alfred Hahn, lent it to an exhibition at Kestner-Gesellschaft ["Zeitgenössische Kunst aus Hannoverschem Privatbesitz". Hannover: Kestner-Gesellschaft, 1954, cat. 132]. Peter Bade's granddaughter, Dr. Ilse Hahn, informed the Museum that her grandfather purchased the work from his friend, the artist. She also confirmed that her parents, Liselotte Bade-Hahn and Alfred Hahn, saved the painting from bombs during World War II in their Hanover home [notes of telephone conversation between Dr. Ilse Hahn and SLAM provenance researcher Anabelle Kienle, April 12, 2006, SLAM document files].
To make matters confusing, the catalogue raisonné erroneously indicates that the original owner of the painting was Dr. Hermann Bode (1900-1977), a known collector from Hanover. It does not, however, include the 1920 catalogue which lists Dr. Peter Bade as the owner. Furthermore, the artist himself registered "Sanitätsrat Bade, Hanover" as the original owner of this work in his typed catalog of paintings, created in 1930. Without the 1920 exhibition catalogue documentation, Nolde's handlist notation was believed to be a typing error [letters from Dr. Manfred Reuther, Director of the Stiftung Seebüll Ada und Emil Nolde, dated June 22, 2001 and March 14, 2006, SLAM document files].
[2] According to Morton D. May's object records, and the 1970 catalogue of his collection, the Kestner-Gesellschaft is listed as owning the picture after "Sanitatsrat Bade, Hanover" and before it was owned or offered for sale through the Commeter Gallery ["The Morton D. May Collection of 20th Century German Masters." New York: Marlborough-Gerson Gallery, 1970, cat. 106; May Archives, Saint Louis Art Museum]. This reference, however, was not found in any other sources. Although the catalogue raisonné does not include Kestner-Gesellschaft in the history for this painting, the author does state that galleries and auctioneers who handled a painting are included in the provenance, even when they did not own the painting [Urban, v.1, p. 47].
[3] The painting is listed in the collection of Moderne Galerie Otto Stangl in a 1957 summer exhibition ["Gedächtnisausstellung Emil Nolde." Essen: Museum Folkwang, June 29 - September 1, 1957, cat. 97].
[4] The catalog for the exhibition at Eugene Victor Thaw's New Gallery from September 25 - October 26, 1957 does not indicate that this painting was on loan, suggesting it was in the New Gallery's collection by this time ["Emil Nolde." New York: New Gallery, 1957, cat. 5].
[5] Per May's object information sheet [May Archives, Saint Louis Art Museum].
[6] Last Will and Testament of M. D. May dated June 11, 1982 [copy, May Archives, Saint Louis Art Museum]. Minutes of the Acquisitions and Loans Committee of the Board of Trustees, Saint Louis Art Museum, September 20, 1983.