Lot Essay
Nolde was profoundly stirred by the experience of the dance in which he looked for rapt and total surrender to all the most powerful bodily expressions. He was particularly interested in the Australian dancer Saharet whom he once saw and described as 'Wild and whirling in her turns, and her streaming black hair suggested some fantastic primeval creature' (quoted in W. Haftmann, Emil Nolde, New York, Candle Dancers, text for plate 12).