Name: Achim Ovidiu

Class: 12U1
Teacher: Mr. Erik Decker

Dance Around the Golden Calf- Emil Nolde

Dance around the Golden Calf is one of the most important religious works of the German
expressionist painter Emil Nolde (1867-1956). It was finished in 1910 and it is considered an
eclectic piece of art, as the viewer can distinguish two distinct perspectives on art: expressionism
and formalism.
The central symbol of the work is the golden calf, which represents decadence and choice of the
wrong path. Even though religion was a previously exploited theme, Emil Nolde uses biblical
motifs in a modern way, making use of his personal perspective.
Typical for an expressionist piece of art, the accent is put on the feelings of the human beings
presented in the painting. Therefore, we can easily spot another characteristic of the expressionist
trend: the exaggeration of the feelings and facial expression. Consequently to that, the general
atmosphere is dominated by a general state of joy and, somehow, madness, provoked by the loss
of the real faith.
The importance of the calf can be seen from the way in which the spatial dimension is used. On
the top of the painting we recognize the golden calf above everybodys heads. Metaphorically
speaking, the calf had become their supreme god, choosing to believe in him out of desperation.
The painting depicts the way in which we, the people, feel overwhelmed by the difficulties of life
and as a result of that, we sometimes follow wrong paths, which might lead to disaster.
From a formalistic point of view, Nolde shows interested for curves and round shapes. The
colours that he uses are complementary or variants and tones of them. We can easily distinguish
the pairs formed by yellow and purple, blue and orange, we can also observe the uses of red and
tones derived from it, but green is absent, so the chromatism is imperfect. The composition can
be considered as being dynamic, which is one typical aspect for modern art: The Interest for the
Beauty of Movement. We can also observe influences from the African art, as the dance itself is
definitely a symbol of pagan rituals and the calf could be taken as a totem.
The internal harmony of the work is determined by the placement of the dance in the middle of
the painting. The dancers are illustrated as standing in a circle, which is the symbol of perfection.
Also, the painting was conceived as a perfectly symmetric one, which accentuates the feeling of
harmony.

Consequently to those I have stated above, I do consider Noldes work a magnificent piece of art,
as he combines expressionisms features with formalism for revealing his feelings in the most
refined way.

Picture taken from: http://kids.britannica.com/comptons/art-171383/Emil-Noldes-DanceAround-the-Golden-Calf-is-one-of

No supplementary materials were used.