- 156
Edvard Munch
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Description
- Edvard Munch
- HEAD OF AN OLD WOMAN
- signed Edv. Munch and dated 1883 (lower left)
- charcoal and watercolour on paper
- image size: 28 by 21.5cm., 11 by 8 1/2 in.
- sheet size: 32.5 by 23.5cm., 12 3/4 by 8 1/2 in.
Provenance
Thomas Olsen
Thence by descent to the present owner
Thence by descent to the present owner
Exhibited
Oslo, Kunstnerforbundet, Munch bilder i privat eie (Munchbilder in Privatbesitz), 1958, no. 46
Kiel, Kunsthalle zu Kiel, Edvard Munch. Gemälde und Zeichnungen aus einer norwegischen Privatsammlung, 1979, no. 1, illustrated in the catalogue
Kiel, Kunsthalle zu Kiel, Edvard Munch. Gemälde und Zeichnungen aus einer norwegischen Privatsammlung, 1979, no. 1, illustrated in the catalogue
Catalogue Note
This is one of the earliest known works by the artist. As Sue Prideaux has noted, 'Early pictures such as Head of an Old Woman from 1883 are rare in private hands. Aged twenty, Munch had not yet been to Paris to see the 'new art', Impressionism. This tender, unsentimental picture of age demonstrates the reverence for Rembrandt that was never to leave Munch, as well as the psychological insight that would mark his lifelong ambition to portray the inner truth of the individual, what he called 'The Secret Life of the Soul".