Lot 213
  • 213

Edvard Munch

Estimate
100,000 - 150,000 GBP
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Description

  • Edvard Munch
  • To på vei mot skogen (Couple on the Path to the Forest)
  • signed E Munch lower left
  • oil on canvas
  • 46 by 55.5cm., 18 by 21¾in.

Provenance

Hans Halvorsen (by 1938)
Nini Gran Halvorsen; thence by descent to the present owner

Literature

Gerd Woll, Edvard Munch, London, 2009, vol. 1, p. 123, no. 109, catalogued & illustrated

Condition

The canvas has been re-lined. There are scattered areas of retouching visible under ultraviolet light, notably along the right edge, partially obscured by a varnish. Apart from fine craquelure, notably to the trees and sky, this work is in good condition, with rich colours, and ready to hang. Held in a decorative, gold-painted moulded plaster and wood frame.
"In response to your inquiry, we are pleased to provide you with a general report of the condition of the property described above. Since we are not professional conservators or restorers, we urge you to consult with a restorer or conservator of your choice who will be better able to provide a detailed, professional report. Prospective buyers should inspect each lot to satisfy themselves as to condition and must understand that any statement made by Sotheby's is merely a subjective, qualified opinion. Prospective buyers should also refer to any Important Notices regarding this sale, which are printed in the Sale Catalogue.
NOTWITHSTANDING THIS REPORT OR ANY DISCUSSIONS CONCERNING A LOT, ALL LOTS ARE OFFERED AND SOLD AS IS" IN ACCORDANCE WITH THE CONDITIONS OF BUSINESS PRINTED IN THE SALE CATALOGUE."

Catalogue Note

Painted in the mid-1880s. It was at the start of the decade, November 1880, that Munch had written in his diary 'Now I have decided to become a painter' (quoted by Arne Eggum in Edvard Munch, The Frieze of Life, exh. cat, National Gallery, London, 1992, p. 15). 

The two most important influences in Munch's early days were Christian Krohg (lot 216) and Frits Thaulow (lots 222 & 223) . Munch shared a studio with Krohg, who became his self appointed tutor, while from Thaulow Munch took formal classes, and thanks to his patronage visited Antwerp and Paris in 1885. In his early subject matter Munch already divided his attention almost equally between painting portraits of his family and acquaintances and the depiction of landscapes, some - as in the present work - including figures.

The contemporary motifs he selected, his loose painterly technique, and the luminous palette that he adopted in these early landscapes were clearly influenced by the Impressionists, in particular Pissarro. Although having had little if any direct exposure to such French artists' work, Munch's interpretations were to a large extent filtered through Thaulow's eyes. In these works the locations - views of Gamle Aker, the square outside his bedroom window, or streets in and around Olso - were less important to him than capturing an atmosphere. 

As the decade wore on, however, like the ever increasing psychological intensity that Munch gave to his figural works, so in his landscapes Munch applied his deeply reflective sensibility to his depiction of the Norwegian countryside (fig. 1). An added tension is added to the present oil by the inclusion of the two figures who walk away from the viewer. Their presence embues the scene with a sense of ominous forboding, an atmosphere that bears comparison with the sense of fatalistic melancholy in his seminal work of the same period The Sick Child.

FIG. 1, Edvard Munch, Forest Landscape with Small Lake, 1887, sold Sotheby's, New York, 8 November 2007, lot 127