Puberty (Munch)
Puberty | |
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Norwegian: Pubertet | |
National Gallery, Oslo |
Puberty (
Genesis
Whenever he was questioned on the subject, Munch maintained he had not been influenced by the work of the Belgium artist and illustrator
Subject matter
Munch's painting Puberty depicts a young naked girl sitting on the edge of a bed. Her legs are pressed together. She holds her hands in front of her body; one lies between her knees, while the other rests on her right thigh. She stares straight ahead with eyes wide open. Her mouth is closed and her long hair hangs down over the shoulders. The light enters from the left, and behind her a dark, ominous shadow is visible. The motif is often regarded as a symbol of anxiety and fear, a young girl's awakening sexuality and the changes a young person experiences physically and psychologically on the path towards adulthood.[7]
Munch gave a number of titles to various versions of the motif, originally The Young Model, later Puberty, and still later At Night. "The image can thus sustain various interpretations, from a view of a model by an artist to an evocation of nocturnal sensual pleasures and terrors."[1]: 197 p.
Others' comments
- Arne Eggum has stated in commentary published by The Masterworks of Edvard Munch regarding Munch's Puberty that the images were so similar, Munch found it necessary to claim he did not wish to replicate Félicien Rops' 1886 Le Plus Bel Amour De Don Juan.[8] [Although Eggum was in error; the 2nd ed. of Les Diaboliques with Rops etching, was published in 1882, not 1886].[9]
- Munch claimed the painting is a duplicate of one that had been earlier destroyed in a fire in 1885 or 1886, reiterating the confusion of the original idea in which Munch was inspired to create Puberty.[10][1]: 195 p. [3]: 79 p.
- Munch himself (like the female he has portrayed in Puberty) feared sex due to the loss of his virginity to his cousin's wife.[11]
Artistic growth
Puberty was a spark towards the progress of his personal emotional journey in how he portrayed his feelings in his artwork.[12]
See also
Notes
- ^ ISBN 0-300-06952-9
- ISBN 1-85995-890-7
- ^ a b c Messer, Thomas M. (1970). Munch: The Library of Great Painters. Harry N. Abrams, Inc., Publishers, New York. 166 pp.
- ^ "The life of Edvard Munch". Archived from the original on 2009-02-18. Retrieved 2009-04-21.
- ^ Deknatel, 1950, p. 15
- ^ Cordulack, 2002 p. 116
- ^ "Munch Museum". Archived from the original on 2014-04-02. Retrieved April 2, 2014.
- ^ Eggum, p. 42
- )
- ^ "Puberty". Archived from the original on 2017-01-25. Retrieved 2009-04-21.
- ^ "Edvard Munch Biography". Retrieved April 21, 2009.
- ^ Deknatel, 1950 p. 15
References
- Frederick B. Deknatel (1950). Edvard Munch. Chanticleer Press ASIN: B0007DVV12. 171
- Shelley Wood Cordulack, Edvard Munch (2002) Edvard Munch and the physiology of symbolism. Fairleigh Dickinson Univ Press. ISBN 978-0-8386-3891-0
- Eggum, A., & Munch, E. (1979). Edvard Munch: paintings, sketches, and studies. New York: C.N. Potter. ISBN 0-517-55617-0
External links
- Edvard Munch at Munch Museum
- Puberty Archived 2017-01-25 at the Wayback Machine at Humanitiesweb (includes an image of the painting)
- Edvard Much, Puberty at wikipaintings.org
- Edvard Munch as a painter at Munch Museum
- Quotes from Edvard Munch (1863–1944)