Dispersion relations allow for a coherent description of the nucleon electromagnetic form factors measured over a large range of momentum transfer, Q 2 ≃ 0 . . . 35 GeV 2 . Including constraints from unitarity and perturbative QCD, we present a novel parametrisation of the absorptive parts of the various isoscalar and isovector nucleon form factors. Using the current world data, we obtain results for the electromagnetic form factors, nucleon radii and meson couplings. We stress the importance of measurements at large momentum transfer to test the predictions of perturbative QCD.#1 Work supported in part by the Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft (SFB 201).