This reproduction was published for the exhibition "Edvard Munch. A Poem of Life, Love and Death", at the Musée d'Orsay from September 20th, 2022 to January 22nd, 2023.
Edvard Munch (1863 - 1944)
The Sun (detail), 1912
Oil on canvas. H. 123 ; l. 176,5 cm
Oslo, Munchmuseet
© Photo Munchmuseet
© Rmn-Grand ...
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This reproduction was published for the exhibition "Edvard Munch. A Poem of Life, Love and Death", at the Musée d'Orsay from September 20th, 2022 to January 22nd, 2023.
Edvard Munch (1863 - 1944)
The Sun (detail), 1912
Oil on canvas. H. 123 ; l. 176,5 cm
Oslo, Munchmuseet
© Photo Munchmuseet
© Rmn-Grand Palais, Paris 2022
The Sun is one of Edvard Munch's most famous works. But what does a sunrise over the rocky Norwegian coast have to do with well-toned physiques and the German philosopher Friedrich Nietzsche?
"The sun has been roasting hot all day, and we let it roast [us]. Munch has done a bit of work on a swimming painting, but for most of day we were lying around, overwhelmed by the sun, in deep sand dunes right down by the edge of the fjord, between the big boulders, and letting our bodies drink up all the sun they could bear. No one is bothered about swimming costumes here, the gentle gusts of a warm July wind are the only fabric between us the sun."
This is how Christian Gierløff, a close friend of Edvard Munch, described some scorching summer days he shared with the artist in 1904. One can almost feeling the live-giving force of the sunbeams on one's body when reading his words. One may have a similar experience when encountering Munch's monumental masterpiece The Sun, which depicts a glowing sunrise over the rocky archipelago off Kragerø.
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