The everyday world, sentimental landscapes, holiday locations, the working environment, battlegrounds, naval zones or nature reserves? In her study on the history of style and motif history, Nina Hinrichs takes a deeper look at the artistic representations of the North Sea and of the mud flats between the end of the 19th Century up to the mid-20th Century. In the first section, she examines works of art that are mostly interlinked with the national, political and ideological aspects of German history. The second section, on the other hand, deals with freer artistic conflicts. Some of the artists considered include Emil Nolde, Max Beckmann, Erich Heckel, Franz Radziwill, Kate Lassen, Alfred Bachmann, Hans Bohrdt and Claus Bergen, among others.