Prints by Edvard MUNCH (1863-1944)
1895 The Scream
2014 SOLD for $ 2.4M by Sotheby's
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.
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.
In 1895 Munch had been 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.
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.
In 1895 Munch had been 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.
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
intermediate undated
2020 SOLD for $ 2M by Sotheby's
An intermediate undated lithographic three-color version including an olive green was sold for $ 2M by Sotheby's on October 22, 2020, lot 35.
In 1902 a three stone lithographic version is printed in black, red and blue on stiff card. It is referred by Woll as variant A.2.II., printed before the reworking of the red color stone. A full margin copy in very good condition was sold for $ 870K by Christie's on October 22, 2021, lot 86.
Also 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.
In 1902 a three stone lithographic version is printed in black, red and blue on stiff card. It is referred by Woll as variant A.2.II., printed before the reworking of the red color stone. A full margin copy in very good condition was sold for $ 870K by Christie's on October 22, 2021, lot 86.
Also 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.
1895-1902 Vampire
2010 SOLD for £ 800K by Sotheby's
Love and pain together is a major element in Munch's Frieze of Life beside jealousy, separation and kiss. It features the struggle within the couple with the woman tenderly embracing her partner while draining the life force from him. Her long flame red hair falls like a rain of blood over her shoulders. The dark shadow of the background increases the claustrophobia. It was re-titled Vampire after an exhibition in 1893.
This figure is beside The Scream and Madonna one of the major prints prepared by Munch in 1895. Ten states are listed by Woll from 1895 to 1902.
A lustrous impression on japan paper from the sixth state was sold for £ 800K from a lower estimate of £ 400K by Sotheby's on September 16, 2010, lot 20. The image is 38 x 55 cm on a 44 x 62 cm sheet.
This lithograph is printed in black and orange over the woodcut printed in green, blue and ochre The colors are vibrant.
This figure is beside The Scream and Madonna one of the major prints prepared by Munch in 1895. Ten states are listed by Woll from 1895 to 1902.
A lustrous impression on japan paper from the sixth state was sold for £ 800K from a lower estimate of £ 400K by Sotheby's on September 16, 2010, lot 20. The image is 38 x 55 cm on a 44 x 62 cm sheet.
This lithograph is printed in black and orange over the woodcut printed in green, blue and ochre The colors are vibrant.
1896 Young Woman on the Beach
1
Woll 3
2013 SOLD for £ 2.13M by Christie's
Threatened by melancholy, Edvard Munch conceives ca 1891 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.
During his stay in Paris from 1890 to 1892 he had begun to take inspiration from post-impressionist styles to express his symbolism.
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.
He reworks his Young woman on the beach by liberating her from her companion. A single person is indeed enough to express the loneliness. This allegorical image is one of his strongest messages.
Well centered, the lonesome figure turns her back to us as in the original picture. She is tall, and her straight attitude in her beautiful white dress shows that she has no other problem than her solitude.
The woman is standing at sea shore, turning her back to the viewer for looking at the sea. The marine breeze plays with her very long hair. Her golden hair and her long immaculate white dress are lit by the twilight sun while the scenery is already in the shadow. With her feet hidden under the dress, she looks like levitating out of space, time and society.
That 1896 dry point in 29 x 22 cm image size is printed in aquatint with burnishing in imitation of a mezzotint.
Within a total of only twelve known impressions, Gerd Woll distinguishes no fewer than seven color combinations that offer variations comparable to Monet's post-impressionist practice.
One of them from variant Woll 3 printed in light blue, brown, gray and pink was sold on March 20, 2013 by Christie's for £ 2.13M from a lower estimate of £ 500K, lot 70. This image on a 45 x 31 cm Arches laid paper, probably the untrimmed size. It is signed in pencil.
Munch stops working in aquatint after 1897.
During his stay in Paris from 1890 to 1892 he had begun to take inspiration from post-impressionist styles to express his symbolism.
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.
He reworks his Young woman on the beach by liberating her from her companion. A single person is indeed enough to express the loneliness. This allegorical image is one of his strongest messages.
Well centered, the lonesome figure turns her back to us as in the original picture. She is tall, and her straight attitude in her beautiful white dress shows that she has no other problem than her solitude.
The woman is standing at sea shore, turning her back to the viewer for looking at the sea. The marine breeze plays with her very long hair. Her golden hair and her long immaculate white dress are lit by the twilight sun while the scenery is already in the shadow. With her feet hidden under the dress, she looks like levitating out of space, time and society.
That 1896 dry point in 29 x 22 cm image size is printed in aquatint with burnishing in imitation of a mezzotint.
Within a total of only twelve known impressions, Gerd Woll distinguishes no fewer than seven color combinations that offer variations comparable to Monet's post-impressionist practice.
One of them from variant Woll 3 printed in light blue, brown, gray and pink was sold on March 20, 2013 by Christie's for £ 2.13M from a lower estimate of £ 500K, lot 70. This image on a 45 x 31 cm Arches laid paper, probably the untrimmed size. It is signed in pencil.
Munch stops working in aquatint after 1897.
2
Woll 5
2023 SOLD for £ 1.62M by Sotheby's
The unique Woll 5 copy printed in golden yellow, sienna, green-blue and black on a 39 x 30 cm Arches laid paper was sold for £ 1.62M from a lower estimate of £ 1.2M by Sotheby's on March 1, 2023, lot 141. It is inscribed 3te Druck and signed by the artist in pencil.
Its pastel tones in which the surrounding details are again erased reduce the contrast but reinforce the psychic mystery of this young woman.
The tweet below was issued before it passed at Sotheby's on October 23, 2017, lot 92.
Its pastel tones in which the surrounding details are again erased reduce the contrast but reinforce the psychic mystery of this young woman.
The tweet below was issued before it passed at Sotheby's on October 23, 2017, lot 92.
Munch, Picasso, Kirchner & Johns prints from Catherine Woodard & Nelson Blitz Collection headline #SothebysPrints https://t.co/pSusfjZFbU pic.twitter.com/QUl5dpZX6q
— Sotheby's (@Sothebys) October 10, 2017
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 (Woll 157)
1
Woll V
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 V of VIII in Woll sub-classification of the W157, 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 V of VIII in Woll sub-classification of the W157, 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
Woll I.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. It is from the state I.2 in Woll sub-classification of the W 157.
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.
Two Human Beings. The Lonely Ones (To mennesker. De ensomme) W157
October 3, 2006 SOLD for NOK 8.1M by Blomqvist (worth US$ 1.27M at that time)
referred in Wikipedia.
