Puberty - by Edvard Munch


A young girl sits naked on the edge of a bed, her thighs pressed together and her hands hiding her nakedness. She stares straight ahead but without meeting an onlooker's eyes. She has experienced something, and her state is tense as a result, a fact underlined by the dark shadow unfurling behind her. Was it her first erotic dream? Her first menses? We do not know, nor is that crucial. What Munch depicts in this painting is sexual awakening, an awareness of something new, something frightening yet alluring and inescapable. Not surprisingly, a picture of such a subject was considered offensive at the time. Even nowadays when the topic is not taboo, the picture can shock the viewer with its frank portrayal of an intimate situation experienced by all young girls. For this work, too, Munch's inspiration came from Max Klinger's series of etchings A Love, from the plate entitled "Awaken".


Edvard Munch's Biography.

Rami E. Cremesti

December 25, 2000

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