Uncanny Resemblances
One of the surprises of art is how one artist influences another, even if in sublime and undetected ways.
I'm not sure how much of Nolde's total work is a direct influence on Milne's, but there are some surprisingly similar elements that have cropped up.
They both were rather removed from their current art scenes, preferring to work alone. Yet, they deeply imbued many of their contemporaries' ideas and philosophies on art.
At various instances in their lives, they preferred to live a close to solitary existence in the "wilds" of their native lands - Milne living in various cabins that he built himself, while Nolde living in the Northern German Friesland.
They brought color to what is generally considered a dark and sombre north. Milne with a lightness of touch, and Nolde with saturated gem-like colors. Perhaps their withdrawal to these remote regions brought out the colors for them.
They turned to Biblical images, not just in their thinking as some artists call their work "spiritual", but by actually depicting images from the Bible and other Christian thought.
And, in an uncanny way, even their illnesses were similar both having suffered through and survived stomach cancer and surgery.
These "Northern Spirits" brought as much light and color into their paintings in their very own environments as artists who moved to the more popular southern regions to capture this light and color.