NOLDE 2023.217

A member of the artist group Die Brücke (The Bridge), Emil Nolde’s longstanding interest in movement and dance frequently saw the inclusion of dancers within his compositions. In Der Tod als Tänzerin (Death as a Dancer), a group of grotesque figures surround a dancing girl. While she appears full of life and energy, we glimpse bones beneath the surface of her skin.

The dancing skeleton was a highly recognisable motif of the Danse Macabre (the Dance of Death) – a pictorial allegory on the theme of the universality of death popular in the Middle Ages. A personification of Death was traditionally shown summoning figures from many different walks of life in a dance towards the grave. In Nolde’s interpretation, the crown of a king can be seen, opposite a horned creature who raises a clawed hand. The artist conceived of this scene the year World War One ended, making its message about the fragility of life and the inevitability of death particularly potent.