Artwork Page for Evening, Melancholy I

Details / Information for Evening, Melancholy I

Evening, Melancholy I

1896

Edvard Munch

(Norwegian, 1863–1944)
Culture
Norway
Medium
Hand-colored woodcut
Measurements
Image: 37.7 x 45 cm (14 13/16 x 17 11/16 in.)
Credit Line
Gift of Mrs. Clive Runnels in memory of Leonard C. Hanna Jr. 1959.82
Catalogue raisonné
Woll 91
Public Domain
You can copy, modify, and distribute this work, all without asking permission. Learn more about CMA's Open Access Initiative.
Location
Not on view
Print
?

Did You Know?

This print is one of only two known impressions printed from the first state of the block before it was cut into two sections.

Description

Evening, Melancholy I depicts the jilted, tormented art critic Jappe Nilssen, Munch's friend, on the shore of Åsgårdstrand, a fishing village south of Oslo. Munch chose heavily grained blocks of wood, allowing the pattern of the board to add texture to the scene, and he exploited the handmade aspect of the technique by carving blocks crudely. He also experimented so that each impression is unique, using black ink on the woodblock and watercolor and gouache to color the sheet extensively. An example of how method can reinforce meaning, the simplified shapes, flattened space, and dark hues create a visual correspondence to the figure's deep depression.
A horizontally oriented watercolor depicts a person with a light skin tone at our lower left side of the painting. The person is in profile, facing our right, with their chin resting in their hand. In the background is a shore underneath a night sky, all in deep shades of dark blues, browns, and greens.

Evening, Melancholy I

1896

Edvard Munch

(Norwegian, 1863–1944)
Norway

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