Nolde travelled to Hamburg in 1910 and his intense fascination with the activity of the harbour gave rise to an important and highly atmospheric series of etchings: '...he was thoroughly excited by the visual stimulus of the industrial landscape, the port with its barges, tenders, tugs and docks, and its waves and smoke. During the day he sketched and drew in a small boat, and at night in his sailor's hostel he etched his plates with furious speed, placed them in the acid, lay down to sleep for a few hours, and awoke in time to remove them from the bath. Sometimes he seems to have used double biting for the deepest lines. These etchings of Hamburg harbour with their network of brittle lines capture the vital atmosphere of the port as it was experienced in the artist's highly stimulated imagination. They also show his enjoyment of the medium and the rich inventiveness of his technique.' (P. Selz, Emil Nolde, Museum of Modern Art, New York et al., 1963, p. 52)