Edvard Munch - Summer Evening in Åsgårdstrand [1891]

This painting dates to summer 1891, which Munch spent at the seaside resort of Åsgårdstrand. The artist’s closest companions there were his first teacher Christian Krohg, a realist painter and a fixture of the Kristiania-Bohème, along with Krohg’s wife Oda; the youngsters in the present scene, shown picking berries, may be the Krohgs’ two-year-old son Per and a friend. Munch demonstrated an Impressionist’s sensitivity to light as well in this early-evening vignette, capturing the last rays of sun as they illuminate the bend in the path. The impact of divisionism is felt principally in the heightened colour contrasts, particularly the pairing of complementary hues, red against green, blue against orange, on the right side of the canvas.

 

[Christie’s, New York - Oil on canvas, 39.2 x 66.2 cm]

 

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