Intaglio print printed in black on heavy cream paper
Sheet: 491x348 mm Image: 239x233 mm
Signed in pencil lower right: Edv Munch
Printer's signature in pencil lower left: O Felsing Berlin gdr.
1896
Woll 55 b) IV.
Estimate
NOK 300,000–400,000USD 32,400–43,200EUR 29,200–38,900
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.
