Edvard Munch 1863-1944

Lithograph printed in black, red and blue, 1902, a strong impression of Woll's state VI (of seven), with the reworking of the stone:  new long strands of hair drawn in by the hips and towards the stomach, probably done circa 1913, signed in pencil, printed by Lassally, Berlin, on a large sheet of laid japan paper, with full margins, in good condition, a vertical crease in one of the laid lines extending into the lower image measuring 268mm, a diagonal crease at lower right corner of sheet, slight mount-staining, glue-staining along top edge of sheet recto, slight surface dirt in the margins

Edvard Munch's Madonna has challenged the viewer from the date of the first exhibition to the present day. Although the title may suggest a religious theme, this powerful subject has generated much discussion about the meaning of the picture. Munch endowed his Madonna (Liebendes Weib) with the 'miracle of existence', portraying her at the moment of conception, alluring and creative. Indeed, the painting of this subject (National Gallery, Oslo) was originally exhibited with a frame decorated with depictions of spermatozoa and embryos. The design of the frame was subsequently incorporated in to the lithograph, providing a printed frame for the earlier impressions.

Edvard Munch followed the tradition of the great painter-printmakers such as Dürer, Rembrandt and Goya, exploring the print making techniques available to him at the time. During the 1890s, Paris was the centre for colour lithography, indeed it had become the capital of the "colour revolution", the centre of innovation for colour printing. It is no coincidence that Munch chose lithography for such an important subject as the Madonna. Although the work was eventually printed in Berlin, Munch had worked with the great colour printers in the Paris ateliers and would have been familiar with their methods and techniques that enabled him to achieve such a harmonious, yet powerful, image.