LITERATURE: Magne Bruteig: Munch - Drawings, Oslo 2004.
Under chapter 3 Love/woman, Bruteig says among other things:
Munch's relationship to women is a popular and inexhaustible subject, not only for his biographers but also for all who read his texts and see his pictures. Inexhaustible, because he sends out so many different and apparently contradictory signals, both in writings and pictures, that anyone looking for simple answers is necessarily disappointed and perplexed. But why should this be surprising? Where sexuality and love are concerned, the inner landscape of most people is an impenetrable jungle. So it is hardly surprising that, among the countless women in Munch's art, we find both the pure and innocent girl and the sexually aggressive "femme fatale", woman as a swan and woman as a mermaid, as a vampire and as a Madonna, as temptress and victim. And much else besides. P. 57.