The inspiring exchange with dancers, musicians, poets and actors was a significant incentive for Emil Nolde's artistic exploration, also in earlier creative periods. When the painter met the young actress Stephanie Wiesand (1912 – unknown) in the North Sea spa St. Peter-Ording in 1947, an intensive acquaintanceship developed between the two, which was accompanied by lively correspondence. The time they spent together at the North Sea was characterized by an intensive exchange: After the dramatic loss of his wife Ada a year earlier, Wiesand read the artist his memoirs and comforted him.

The present watercolor was probably created during one of the encounters between Wiesand and Nolde in this context. Here Nolde characterizes the actress with strong orange-red hair and blue contour lines and facial features, with a particular emphasis on the delicately executed eyes. The delicately differentiated mouth clearly stands out in its colorfulness. The sparse use of details enables Nolde to increase the expressiveness of face and colors. The resulting presence of the portrayed actress seems almost tangible due to the delicate, sculptural and yet seemingly spontaneous modeling.This extraordinary work is impressive proof of Emil Nolde's pronounced ability to reproduce delicate mood values in his portraits. In a letter to the sitter, the artist expresses himself in a significant way: "I just ask you not to say that it's you, it's not a portrait, it's just a little picture" (Emil Nolde in a letter to Stephanie Wiesand from December 4th, 1949). Rather than describing the external characteristics of the person shown, Nolde is more interested in moods and emotions, in order to make the subjective impression of those portrayed tangible and effective. In the series of such portraits, this extraordinary sheet is a representation of unique presence and direct expressiveness. [AM]