A naked woman lies on her back with one hand under her neck and the other
in the small of her back. Her eyes are closed, and her long, dark hair
flows down over her shoulders and arms. Around her head is a red halo,
echoed by curving lines in the background.
Munch had assimilated important influences during his years in Paris and
Berlin. In the book Das Werk des Edvard Munch, the Polish writer
Stanislaw Przybyszewski describes this painting as "the
moment Life and Death shake hands". In the lithographic version,
Munch emphasises the erotic aspect further by adding round the composition
a frame swimming with sperm cells, and an embryo in one corner. Woman
is both elevated and abased. As a Madonna with the red
halo of martyrdom she is an object of religious
devotion, yet at the same time she is man's sex object.
Sensual satisfaction is likened to the moment
of death. Characteristic of the 1890s are both the simplification
of form and also the rhythmical wavy lines which are repeated in the figure
and the surrounding areas.
This painting is too much... Edvard Munch is too much... Here's a glimpse into his anguish-ridden life: Edvard Munch's Biography.
October 21, 2000