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Swimming Turtle

Date
1923–24
Material
Watercolor
Classification
Drawings & watercolors
Current Location
Not on view
Dimensions
image: 19 x 14 in. (48.3 x 35.6 cm)
sheet (irregular): 19 x 14 in. (48.3 x 35.6 cm)
framed: 29 1/8 x 23 1/8 in. (74 x 58.7 cm)
Credit Line
Museum Purchase
Rights
© The Nolde Foundation
Object Number
1:1948
NOTES
Emil Nolde and his wife Ada spent their summers in the country and their winters in Berlin. During the cold gray months, Nolde often sought refuge from the modern city and its problems at the aquarium. There he painted fish, frogs, and eels, as well as this sea turtle in watercolor. As the oldest living reptiles dating back to the time of the dinosaurs, turtles appealed to Nolde’s interest in the most primitive forms of life.

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