Auction Wednesday December 9 2015 at 15:00
Munch, Edvard(1863-1944)
The Woman and the Heart

Intaglio print printed in brown on medium heavy cream wove

Sheet: 442x380 mm Image: 235x234 mm
Signed in pencil lower right: Edv. Munch
1896
Woll 55.

Estimate
NOK 300,000–400,000

Auctioned Wednesday December 9 2015 at 15:00

Hammer price NOK 300,000

LITERATURE: Magne Bruteig: Munch – Drawings, Oslo 2004.

A motif with a girl and a heart exists in both etching and woodcut. It may be interpreted as a commentary on woman’s relationship to man’s emotions.

The etching is a variant of “Blossom of pain”, in which the blood from the heart the woman is holding gives nourishment to a flower. P. 90-91.

A central symbolic motif in Munch’s work is “Blossom of pain” … . The artist should not portray inessentials, not shine with technical skill or “paint nice pictures to hang on drawing walls”. “All art, literature like music must be produced by one’s heart’s blood … Art is one’s heart’s blood.” In this drawing (“Blossom of pain”), Munch further develops this quotation by having a flower – art – grow up from the blood of life. Art and life become one. But to achieve this, the artist must sacrifice the most precious thing he has. P. 89.