Self-Portrait with Cigarette
| Self-Portrait with Cigarette | |
|---|---|
 | |
| Artist | Edvard Munch |
| Year | 1895 |
| Medium | oil on canvas |
| Dimensions | 110.5 cm × 85.5 cm (43.5 in × 33.7 in)[1] |
| Location | National Gallery, Oslo, Norway |
Self-Portrait with Cigarette (Norwegian: Selvportrett med sigarett)[2] is an 1895 painting by the Norwegian artist Edvard Munch. Munch's use of the cigarette and physical decay as a rejection of societal values aroused controversy following the self-portrait's 1895 exhibition. As of 2021, the work is held by the National Gallery in Oslo.
Composition
The artist is surrounded by a dark shadow as he holds a smoking cigarette. John Ravenal compares the painting's dramatic lighting to that of a stage.[3]: 88 Sue Prideaux writes that "Munch appears from the cigarette smoke like a genie from a bottle".[4]: 157 The cigarette, which the art historian Patricia Berman calls "a nexus for marginal social identities in the 1890s", was a symbol for "deviancy" and the "social dissolution" between class and gender boundaries. Thus, its inclusion in the self-portrait rejects traditional values and associates Munch with bohemianism and decadence. Berman also believes that the artist's depiction of himself with a "thin, dissolving body" and "sallow skin" employs physical decay to challenge social and health norms.[5]: 627, 644
History
The painting was exhibited at Blomqvist's in Oslo during the autumn of 1895, along with Munch's other works including the 1893 version of : 147, 157
The self-portrait's exhibition led to controversy surrounding Munch's mental health. Johan Scharffenberg, then a medical student, suggested the painting to be a manifestation of Munch's amorality and mental degeneration; Scharffenberg diagnosed the artist as a sick and corrupting influence on Norwegian youth.[5]: 629 Berman identifies this and other criticism of the painting's potential danger towards society to be motivated by influential thinkers such as Max Nordau.[5]: 6
From 1908 to 1909, Munch produced a lithograph also titled Self-Portrait with Cigarette.[6]: 29 He also made a photographic reproduction of the painting some time between 1907 and 1909.[4]: 256
From February to May 2006, the self-portrait and 86 other paintings by Munch were featured at the Museum of Modern Art in New York for the first 21st-century retrospective of Munch's career, titled Edvard Munch: The Modern Life of the Soul.[7]
See also
References
- ^ a b "Self-Portrait with Cigarette". National Museum of Art, Architecture and Design. Retrieved September 13, 2021.
- ISBN 9781879751248– via Google Books.
- ISBN 978-0-300-22006-3.
- ^ ISBN 978-0-300-11024-1.
- ^ JSTOR 3045987.
- S2CID 192997195.
- ^ "Edvard Munch: The Modern Life of the Soul". Museum of Modern Art. Retrieved October 14, 2021.
