Prints by Edvard MUNCH (1863-1944)
Intro
In Paris in 1891, Edvard Munch meditates on the human condition. He is deeply influenced by the art of Gauguin, where the stylization of drawing and the simplification of colors provide an unprecedented strength to the message. In November 1892 he exhibits his paintings in Berlin. The scandal is immediate and the operation is stopped after one week.
This incident stimulates the creativity of Munch who understands to what extent his art is new and different. In 1894 still in Berlin, he is tempted by the edition of his works. A highly significant among these first trials takes up the theme of the two lonely characters, prepared with the dry point. He will try all the techniques and all the possibilities for coloring either by inks or by added watercolor.
In 1895 he is very prolific including among others the original lithographs of The Scream, Madonna and Vampyr. Norwegians doe not follow. Happy that The Scream was published by La Revue Blanche, Munch comes to try his luck in Paris where he arrives in February 1896.
This incident stimulates the creativity of Munch who understands to what extent his art is new and different. In 1894 still in Berlin, he is tempted by the edition of his works. A highly significant among these first trials takes up the theme of the two lonely characters, prepared with the dry point. He will try all the techniques and all the possibilities for coloring either by inks or by added watercolor.
In 1895 he is very prolific including among others the original lithographs of The Scream, Madonna and Vampyr. Norwegians doe not follow. Happy that The Scream was published by La Revue Blanche, Munch comes to try his luck in Paris where he arrives in February 1896.
1895 Life, Love, Death and Scream
2014 SOLD for $ 2.4M by Sotheby's
The Scream is edited in 1895 as a lithograph on wove paper with a printed inscription in German : Ich fühlte des grosse Geschrei durch die Natur (I felt the great scream throughout nature).
A copy printed in black and uncolored, signed by the artist but undated, was sold for $ 2.4M by Sotheby's on November 4, 2014, lot 53. Its sharp and thick line is beautiful.
This picture is scarce because its production time was very short : the printer had cleared the stone for reuse without asking the authorization of the artist.
A copy printed in black and uncolored, signed by the artist but undated, was sold for $ 2.4M by Sotheby's on November 4, 2014, lot 53. Its sharp and thick line is beautiful.
This picture is scarce because its production time was very short : the printer had cleared the stone for reuse without asking the authorization of the artist.
Madonna
Intro
The two masterpieces in the imaging of Edvard Munch, The Scream and Madonna, were conceived in the same year, 1893. Anxiety and fertility express the great question of life and it is tempting to view them as a pair.
Madonna is a pretty woman whose model Dagny Juel was admired by the artist. She is nude and standing, displayed down to the hips. The head is tilted back and the closed eyes are waiting for pleasure. The red lips express pain according to the explanation provided by the artist and bring this ambiguous idol close to the Vampyr, another of the favorite themes of Munch at the same time. The sinister background marks the uncertainty of the future.
Munch designed for his first Madonna the red blood frame on which sperms are slipping and which is broken at the bottom left to display the fetus, a symbol of death since it is lethal outside a woman's body. This unique frame was not kept.
The painting is preceding the lithograph in black and white, which is the subject of various color trials by the artist for choosing the best balance for his future color lithographs.
Madonna is a pretty woman whose model Dagny Juel was admired by the artist. She is nude and standing, displayed down to the hips. The head is tilted back and the closed eyes are waiting for pleasure. The red lips express pain according to the explanation provided by the artist and bring this ambiguous idol close to the Vampyr, another of the favorite themes of Munch at the same time. The sinister background marks the uncertainty of the future.
Munch designed for his first Madonna the red blood frame on which sperms are slipping and which is broken at the bottom left to display the fetus, a symbol of death since it is lethal outside a woman's body. This unique frame was not kept.
The painting is preceding the lithograph in black and white, which is the subject of various color trials by the artist for choosing the best balance for his future color lithographs.
1
1895
2010 SOLD for £ 1.25M by Bonhams
The mysteries of life, death, fertilization, and of the succession of generations have nurtured Munch's entire career and maintained his anguish. His Madonna, whose seven states have been published between 1895 and 1902, is one of the masterpieces in the history of printing.
The first state, in 1895, reveals the meaning of the work. The woman is inserted into a frieze of spermatozoids that is broken to make way for the fetal skeleton, the most notable symbol of the complexity of being as it shows death at the point where life was expected.
The original edition of the Madonna lithograph was printed in 1895 in an image size 61 x 46 cm. The prints hand colored by the artist are probably all different. They make up for what could have been one of the most important paintings in art history but has never existed : no painting of Madonna did include the fetus.
A signed hand colored print, 60 x 44 cm for the image, 70 x 52 cm for the sheet, was sold for £ 1.25M from a lower estimate of £ 500 K by Bonhams on July 13, 2010, lot 48. Another one in more tragic colors was sold for $ 730K by Sotheby's on November 23, 2015, lot 96.
The first state, in 1895, reveals the meaning of the work. The woman is inserted into a frieze of spermatozoids that is broken to make way for the fetal skeleton, the most notable symbol of the complexity of being as it shows death at the point where life was expected.
The original edition of the Madonna lithograph was printed in 1895 in an image size 61 x 46 cm. The prints hand colored by the artist are probably all different. They make up for what could have been one of the most important paintings in art history but has never existed : no painting of Madonna did include the fetus.
A signed hand colored print, 60 x 44 cm for the image, 70 x 52 cm for the sheet, was sold for £ 1.25M from a lower estimate of £ 500 K by Bonhams on July 13, 2010, lot 48. Another one in more tragic colors was sold for $ 730K by Sotheby's on November 23, 2015, lot 96.
2
1895-1902
2020 SOLD for $ 2M by Sotheby's
In 1902, the seventh and final state of Madonna is edited with strident red and blue and with black. A print was sold by Sotheby's for $ 590K on November 23, 2015, lot 97.
An intermediate undated lithographic three-color version including an olive green was sold for $ 2M by Sotheby's on October 22, 2020, lot 35.
An intermediate undated lithographic three-color version including an olive green was sold for $ 2M by Sotheby's on October 22, 2020, lot 35.
1896 Loneliness on Beach
2013 SOLD for £ 2.13M by Christie's
Threatened by melancholy, Munch early starts one of his most personal themes, loneliness. A couple is on the beach, but they are quite distant from one another and their mental solitude is complete. This first painting is lost.
In 1896, he comes back to Paris where he perfects his experiences of all printmaking techniques. Aquatint gives the possibility to vary the balance of colors from one copy to another of the same image.
An aquatint and drypoint of the young woman on the beach had a production run of only eleven copies. Well centered, the lonesome figure turns her back to us as in the original design. She is tall, and her straight attitude in her beautiful white dress shows that she has no other problem than her solitude. She communicates with her environment through the wind that plays with her very long hair.
Printed in light blue, brown, gray and pink, one of them from variant Woll 3 was sold on March 20, 2013 by Christie's for £ 2.13M from a lower estimate of £ 500K, lot 70. The woman displays a striking contrast against the saturated colors of shore and sea. The image measures 29 x 22 cm on a 45 x 31 cm sheet.
In 1896, he comes back to Paris where he perfects his experiences of all printmaking techniques. Aquatint gives the possibility to vary the balance of colors from one copy to another of the same image.
An aquatint and drypoint of the young woman on the beach had a production run of only eleven copies. Well centered, the lonesome figure turns her back to us as in the original design. She is tall, and her straight attitude in her beautiful white dress shows that she has no other problem than her solitude. She communicates with her environment through the wind that plays with her very long hair.
Printed in light blue, brown, gray and pink, one of them from variant Woll 3 was sold on March 20, 2013 by Christie's for £ 2.13M from a lower estimate of £ 500K, lot 70. The woman displays a striking contrast against the saturated colors of shore and sea. The image measures 29 x 22 cm on a 45 x 31 cm sheet.
1896 Evening Melancholy
2013 SOLD for £ 960K by Sotheby's
Edvard Munch was spending his summer vacation at the seaside near Christiania soon to become Oslo. Artists gather here and play the great game of life. In 1891, aged 28, Edvard watches his 21-year-old friend Jappe who becomes madly in love with a married woman ten years his senior.
The woman finally discards her lover. Such a story is not uncommon. Edvard views Jappe's despair as a mirror of his own affair with another girl a few years earlier. Eager to express extreme feelings, Edvard begins a series of paintings on the theme of Melankoli. We do not know if Edvard's creativity comforted Jappe but their friendship survived.
In 1895 and 1896 Edvard collected his most significant pictures to prepare engravings. The lines are in conformity with the paintings but the colors vary from one copy to another, certainly for the use of the artist himself who finds by such a process an easy way to master the emotional impact.
On October 23, 2017, Sotheby's sold for $ 610K a copy of Evening - Melancholy I realized in 1896, lot 95. The woodcut print 38 x 46 cm was made from two blocks. This copy in black, gray and ocher is particularly gloomy.
A copy in softer tones was sold for £ 960K by Sotheby's on September 17, 2013, lot 107.
In 1902 Munch realized a new series in the same size, titled Melancholy III. The left-right composition is inverted from the 1896 version but in conformance with the original painting. A copy was sold for $ 470K on October 23, 2017, lot 84.
The woman finally discards her lover. Such a story is not uncommon. Edvard views Jappe's despair as a mirror of his own affair with another girl a few years earlier. Eager to express extreme feelings, Edvard begins a series of paintings on the theme of Melankoli. We do not know if Edvard's creativity comforted Jappe but their friendship survived.
In 1895 and 1896 Edvard collected his most significant pictures to prepare engravings. The lines are in conformity with the paintings but the colors vary from one copy to another, certainly for the use of the artist himself who finds by such a process an easy way to master the emotional impact.
On October 23, 2017, Sotheby's sold for $ 610K a copy of Evening - Melancholy I realized in 1896, lot 95. The woodcut print 38 x 46 cm was made from two blocks. This copy in black, gray and ocher is particularly gloomy.
A copy in softer tones was sold for £ 960K by Sotheby's on September 17, 2013, lot 107.
In 1902 Munch realized a new series in the same size, titled Melancholy III. The left-right composition is inverted from the 1896 version but in conformance with the original painting. A copy was sold for $ 470K on October 23, 2017, lot 84.
1896 Angst
2008 SOLD for $ 890K by Sotheby's
Angst (anxiety) is inspired by an oil on canvas of the same title painted in 1894 on the theme of the funeral procession.
The original edition of Angst is not a lithograph but a woodcut. The second edition is not a chromolithograph but a two-colored woodcut.
All characters are looking in the direction of the viewer with small hallucinated eyes while ignoring one another. They turn their backs from the fjord. The tormented sky which occupies all the upper half of the image makes this work a counterpart to The Scream. The artist is not mistaken : describing much later the preparatory phase of his Frieze of Life, he puts forward these two works along with Madonna and Vampyr.
After a first state, Vollard chooses Angst among the images to be published in his ambitious album of color lithographs titled Les Peintres-Graveurs. This second and final state of Angst is printed in 1896 by Clot in 100 copies 41 x 39 cm on wove paper. This lithograph is in two tones, a dismal black for the whole figurative part and a scary blood red for the sinuous lines that fill the sky.
The copy 16/100 of that second edition was sold by Sotheby's for $ 890K on May 1, 2008, from a lower estimate of $ 200K, lot 147.
The copy 4/100 with full margins 57 x 43 cm from the same edition was sold for $ 830K by Christie's on April 18, 2019, lot 151.
The copy 50/100 from the same edition had been sold for the same price by Sotheby's on October 27, 2016, lot 11.
The original edition of Angst is not a lithograph but a woodcut. The second edition is not a chromolithograph but a two-colored woodcut.
All characters are looking in the direction of the viewer with small hallucinated eyes while ignoring one another. They turn their backs from the fjord. The tormented sky which occupies all the upper half of the image makes this work a counterpart to The Scream. The artist is not mistaken : describing much later the preparatory phase of his Frieze of Life, he puts forward these two works along with Madonna and Vampyr.
After a first state, Vollard chooses Angst among the images to be published in his ambitious album of color lithographs titled Les Peintres-Graveurs. This second and final state of Angst is printed in 1896 by Clot in 100 copies 41 x 39 cm on wove paper. This lithograph is in two tones, a dismal black for the whole figurative part and a scary blood red for the sinuous lines that fill the sky.
The copy 16/100 of that second edition was sold by Sotheby's for $ 890K on May 1, 2008, from a lower estimate of $ 200K, lot 147.
The copy 4/100 with full margins 57 x 43 cm from the same edition was sold for $ 830K by Christie's on April 18, 2019, lot 151.
The copy 50/100 from the same edition had been sold for the same price by Sotheby's on October 27, 2016, lot 11.
1917 Two Human Beings The Lonely Ones
1
2016 SOLD for £ 1.56M by Sotheby's
Edvard Munch expresses in his art his own mystical and psychological or even psychiatric torments. In Paris and Berlin he painted the difficulty of communication. The Scream is his strongest message because the call does not reach any listener despite the small group away.
Melancholy and silence are among his favorite themes. The Young Woman on the Beach and Two Human Beings (the Lonely Ones) must be considered together and were probably designed simultaneously by the artist. The tall blonde woman in white dress is the same in both scenes. Watching the ocean, she turns her back to the artist, to the viewer and to life.
In the second version a man has come from behind, dressed in dark. He bends his head without looking at the woman. These two people are in a close vicinity one another and psychologically indifferent.
From 1894 Munch uses the prints to disclose his distress. Coloring techniques are varied. He tries all of them with a great technical skill. A very rare aquatint and drypoint 29 x 22 cm of the Young woman on the beach, finished in 1896, was sold for £ 2.13M including premium by Christie's on March 20, 2013.
From 1899 the artist uses the woodcut to republish the Two Human beings. Different states allow a more or less figurative vision of the beach, the ocean and the horizon. Hues become softer, expressing both the absence of conflict and the impossibility of communication in that peaceful scene.
The artist originally used two techniques. The monotype applied through a stencil is linking the ground between the two characters, highlighting that their separate lives occur in the same place at the same time. The rest of the image is printed by three wooden blocks. The surroundings have become abstract.
On September 27, 2016, Sotheby's sold for £ 1.56M a print 40 x 55 cm on 47 x 60 cm sheet of the Two Human beings, state Wolf V of VIII, completed by Nielsen around 1917, lot 141. It had been estimated £ 400K.
Melancholy and silence are among his favorite themes. The Young Woman on the Beach and Two Human Beings (the Lonely Ones) must be considered together and were probably designed simultaneously by the artist. The tall blonde woman in white dress is the same in both scenes. Watching the ocean, she turns her back to the artist, to the viewer and to life.
In the second version a man has come from behind, dressed in dark. He bends his head without looking at the woman. These two people are in a close vicinity one another and psychologically indifferent.
From 1894 Munch uses the prints to disclose his distress. Coloring techniques are varied. He tries all of them with a great technical skill. A very rare aquatint and drypoint 29 x 22 cm of the Young woman on the beach, finished in 1896, was sold for £ 2.13M including premium by Christie's on March 20, 2013.
From 1899 the artist uses the woodcut to republish the Two Human beings. Different states allow a more or less figurative vision of the beach, the ocean and the horizon. Hues become softer, expressing both the absence of conflict and the impossibility of communication in that peaceful scene.
The artist originally used two techniques. The monotype applied through a stencil is linking the ground between the two characters, highlighting that their separate lives occur in the same place at the same time. The rest of the image is printed by three wooden blocks. The surroundings have become abstract.
On September 27, 2016, Sotheby's sold for £ 1.56M a print 40 x 55 cm on 47 x 60 cm sheet of the Two Human beings, state Wolf V of VIII, completed by Nielsen around 1917, lot 141. It had been estimated £ 400K.
Our 27 Sept Prints & Multiples sale in #London includes two moving and momentous Munch works https://t.co/PXt2mVLASC pic.twitter.com/VvDVFJ1bTy
— Sotheby's (@Sothebys) September 19, 2016
2
2013 SOLD for £ 990K by Sotheby's
A scene of loneliness featuring the tall blonde woman in white dress beside a young man was sold for £ 990K by Sotheby's on March 19, 2013, lot 82.
This copy 40 x 55 cm on a 47 x 70 cm wide margin sheet had been printed by Nielsen circa 1917 on thick wove paper from an monotype from the first state, designed in 1899.
This copy 40 x 55 cm on a 47 x 70 cm wide margin sheet had been printed by Nielsen circa 1917 on thick wove paper from an monotype from the first state, designed in 1899.
1917 Two Women on the Shore
2013 SOLD for £ 630K by Sotheby's
Two Women on the shore is a haunted story featuring a standing red haired young woman in virginal white dress and an old seated woman in black who is an allegory of death. The younger looks at the sea where a sun-colored ghost is appearing.
The image had been designed in 1898. On September 17, 2013, Sotheby's sold for £ 630K a
woodcut print made circa 1917 by the artist or by Nielsen in green, light and dark blue, yellow, orange, beige pink and black on japan paper 49 x 54 cm, lot 108.
The image had been designed in 1898. On September 17, 2013, Sotheby's sold for £ 630K a
woodcut print made circa 1917 by the artist or by Nielsen in green, light and dark blue, yellow, orange, beige pink and black on japan paper 49 x 54 cm, lot 108.
1918 Girls and War
2013 SOLD for $ 850K by Christie's
Emotion is easily expressed through sound. Edvard Munch translated into graphic art the extreme feelings on the edge of madness. The silent scene with the three girls on the bridge, painted for the first time in 1901, is a continuation of the Scream. No one will see the real cause of the anguish of the screamer or why the three characters are so tightly grouped, one beside the other without communicating.
The three girls are a great theme for the new experiences of color printing realized by the artist in 1918. The chosen format is 52 x 43 cm.
Before printing the colors, Munch tried several variations by hand coloring black and white woodcut prints. One of them, with four colors in a rather lugubrious arrangement, was sold for $ 850K by Christie's on October 29, 2013, lot 98.
The final print used a mixing of woodblock for the black scars in sky and road, and of three to four zinc plates for the lithography of colors. Its production run was very small, perhaps because Europe still lived horrors far more immediate for the public than the psychological dramas of Munch. One of them was sold for £ 220K by Sotheby's on September 29, 2015, lot 66.
The three girls are a great theme for the new experiences of color printing realized by the artist in 1918. The chosen format is 52 x 43 cm.
Before printing the colors, Munch tried several variations by hand coloring black and white woodcut prints. One of them, with four colors in a rather lugubrious arrangement, was sold for $ 850K by Christie's on October 29, 2013, lot 98.
The final print used a mixing of woodblock for the black scars in sky and road, and of three to four zinc plates for the lithography of colors. Its production run was very small, perhaps because Europe still lived horrors far more immediate for the public than the psychological dramas of Munch. One of them was sold for £ 220K by Sotheby's on September 29, 2015, lot 66.
