Intaglio print printed in black on medium thin cream wove
Sheet: 595x490 mm Image: 395x337 mm
Signed in pencil lower right: Edv Munch
Annotated and dated in pencil by the artist lower right: “Af de første 5 Tryk 1915” (Of the first 5 Impressions 1915). (Looks as if the artist wrote firstly 1905 and then corrected it to 1915).
1915
Woll 501.
Estimate
NOK 100,000–120,000
LITERATURE: Hans-Martin Frydenberg Flaatten: Soloppgang i Kragerø. Historien om Edvard Munchs liv på Skrubben 1909-1915, (Sunrise in Kragerø. The Story of Edvard Munch’s Life at Skrubben 1909-1915), Oslo 2009 and 2013.
Under the heading “Galloping Horse in Barthebakken”, Flaatten writes among other things:
Barthebakken, the Barthe Slope, is the name of the steep hill one has to climb to get to Skrubben. (The house Edvard Munch lived in while in Kragerø). At the top of this slope rocks have been blown away to make a narrow passageway for the road. The steep hill and the narrow pass must have seemed as an interesting set for exploring different themes he was interested in. The narrow pass can give a feeling of claustrophobia.
Here Munch found the motif for “Galloping Horse” … . With this picture Munch expressed the untamed power of nature, and to be exposed to these powers can be scary, as we can see from the figures having to throw themselves to either side. P. 80, translated from Norwegian.
With a wild gaze and the one ear one can see pulled back, the horse seems to rush uncontrollably straight upon the viewer. With sharp foreshortening, Munch makes us realize the horse’s speed and power.
