Edvard Munch

Sale: Bukowski Auctions, Oslo, December 12, 1990
Acquired at the above sale by the present owner

This painting is in very good condition. The canvas has been lined using glue as an adhesive. The paint layer is stable and the cracking is nicely in plain. There does not appear to be any noticeable varnish on the paint layer and we would not encourage any use of varnish in this case. There are no retouches and while some cracks are visible in the sky and in the green in the lower left, these we consider to be quite natural and we do not recommend any restoration. This condition report has been kindly provided by Simon Parkes Art Conservation.
In response to your inquiry, we are pleased to provide you with a general report of the condition of the property described above. Since we are not professional conservators or restorers, we urge you to consult with a restorer or conservator of your choice who will be better able to provide a detailed, professional report. Prospective buyers should inspect each lot to satisfy themselves as to condition and must understand that any statement made by Sotheby's is merely a subjective qualified opinion.
NOTWITHSTANDING THIS REPORT OR ANY DISCUSSIONS CONCERNING CONDITION OF A LOT, ALL LOTS ARE OFFERED AND SOLD "AS IS" IN ACCORDANCE WITH THE CONDITIONS OF SALE PRINTED IN THE CATALOGUE.

In the late 1880s, when he painted the current work, Munch was an active member of the Kristiania Bohème, a group of Norwegian artists and writers who challenged the dominant societal norms. Even at this early stage in his artistic career, Munch was exhibiting works which provoked much controversy within the repressed local community. In 1886, The Sick Child (under the title Study) incited protest at the Autumn Exhibition in Kristiania for its revolutionary style and subject and his early self-portraits from these years were lucid and piercing (see fig. 1). Munch's ability to imbue his paintings with unabashed psychological profundity was a challenging concept for late 19th century artistic circles. In Skogs Landscap Med. Tjern, Munch applies his deeply reflective sensibility to the Norwegian countryside and captures an essence of Nordic light that eluded many of his contemporaries. Although he employs an essentially Impressionist style, there is an ominous atmosphere here that is absent from the contemporaneous work of the French Impressionists. This work is a rare and early testament to the philosophical depth that would come to define Munch's artistic career.

Similar to other artistic revolutionaries of the time, the Kristiania Bohème ventured from the academic traditions of naturalism towards a more subjective interpretation and Munch was at the forefront of this movement. As Kynaston McShine describes, "Munch's statement 'I do not paint what I see but what I saw' suggests that he understands his work as the product not of an empirical, observational process but of the cumulative emotion of the mind's eye. Intentionally and consciously, between seeing something in the world and realizing it in paint, he passes it through a mental filter from which it later emerges transformed in the intensity of the remembered moment. Like van Gogh and Gauguin before him and Expressionists after him, Munch often uses color not for naturalistic description but to convey authenticity of feeling...." (Kynaston McShine, "Introduction," Edvard Munch: The Modern Life of the Soul (exhibition catalogue), Museum of Modern Art, New York, 2006).

 

Fig. 1 Edvard Munch, Self-Portrait, 1886, oil on canvas, The National Museum of Art, Architecture and Design, National Gallery, Oslo