red house and Spruces
- Original dimensions
- 130 x 100.5 cm
- Museum
- Munch museum
- Year
- 1940
Scene depicted
This painting reveals an idyllic composition where the red house stands, shaded by large spruces that seem to watch over it. The gaze is naturally drawn to the harmony between the building and the surrounding nature. Munch was able to capture these moments of serenity, enhanced by a soft light, sometimes golden, sometimes silver, like a timeless caress on the soul.
Historical context
Created in 1940, during a tumultuous period in Norway, the strong painting by Edvard Munch is set in a region imbued with wild beauty and melancholy. The canvas, now preserved at the Munch museum in Oslo, powerfully evokes an artistic heritage of the expressionist movement that transformed the perception of reality through painting. Its dimensions, 130 x 100.5 cm, allow for a total immersion in the depth of its pictorial universe.
Place in the artist's career
This canvas , red house and Spruces, marks an important milestone in the career of Edvard Munch , highlighting his artistic maturation. As he oscillated between despair and beauty, this painting can be compared with “The Scream” and “The Madonna,” thus illustrating the evolution of his emotions. Munch, in this painting , reveals himself through the calm he found in nature.
Anecdote
“Nature is the most beautiful of emotions, and I painted it in the smallest details,” Munch could have stated while referring to his painting here. This masterpiece born in the heart of Norwegian beauty illustrates a peaceful moment after a downpour, where the majestic spruces seem to converse with the red house that stands proudly. This canvas expresses the quiet strength of nature, like a visual poem.
Major exhibitions
Munch og Ekely: 1916-1944