Edvard Munch

Lithograph printed in black, blue, red and olive-green, 1895-1902, a fine richly printed impression, Woll's seventh (final) state, without the border but with the re-work on the hips, signed in pencil, on tissue-thin paper, framed

With wide margins, in good condition apart from soft creasing, very pale light-staining is visible in the margins, a few flattened creases at the upper and lower sheet edges, with some associated minor surface soiling at bottom, the extreme sheet edges with a few tiny paper losses and minor adhesive staining at top at left and right, framed.
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NOTWITHSTANDING THIS REPORT OR ANY DISCUSSIONS CONCERNING A LOT, ALL LOTS ARE OFFERED AND SOLD AS IS" IN ACCORDANCE WITH THE CONDITIONS OF BUSINESS PRINTED IN THE SALE CATALOGUE."

Edvard Munch's Madonna is one of his most famous and challenging works and has caused much controversy ever since it was first seen by the public. The work illustrates perfectly Munch's fascination with life and death, desire and fear. Although the title suggests a religious theme, it is understood that Munch portrays Madonna at the time of conception and the viewer is taking the place of her lover. However, Munch was less interested in the biological act of unity rather than what he saw as the spiritual culmination of life and death. 

Madonna is a fine example of Munch's work as it shows how he created images and themes which he would later re-visit to develop and re-work in a different medium and with different colour combinations. Munch created various painted and drawn versions of Madonna from as early as 1893. An etching with the same title from 1894 (Woll 11) is his first translation of the subject into a print medium and it was then further developed in 1895 into the black and white lithograph. Although the monochrome image is hugely powerful, Munch developed the image even further in 1902 when he created colour stones at the workshop of Lassally in Berlin (the same year he created a colour version of Vampire). He first added the colour stone for the red halo, then transferred the texture of a piece of wood or fabric onto a stone to create the subtle blue background colour. In the fourth state, as shown in our example, he added a light olive-green tone for the torso.

The beautiful and complex image of the Madonna is a brilliant example to highlight Munch's unique and creative work as a printmaker.