“Evening on the street of Karl Johan ” ( Norwegian Aften på Karl Johan ) is a painting by the Norwegian artist Edward Munch , painted by him in 1892 . It was exhibited as part of the cycle “ Frieze of Life ” ( 1903 exhibition in Leipzig ).
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| Edward Munch | ||
| Evening on Karl Johan Street . 1892 | ||
| Norwegian Aften på Karl Johan | ||
| Oil on canvas . 84.5 × 121 cm | ||
| Rasmus Meyer Collection, Bergen | ||
The picture shows the central highway of Oslo - Karl Johans Gate , illuminated by the evening lights. A bourgeois public is moving along the sidewalk - gentlemen in top hats and jackets, ladies in fashionable hats. Their pale faces, devoid of any emotions and distinctive features resemble faceless masks (art critic Arne Eggum compares them with masked faces in the paintings of James Ensor [1] ). At a distance from this human stream, a lone dark figure is seen walking in the opposite direction - with it the artist probably identified himself. In his diary there is an entry that is similar in content to the theme of the picture: “Passers-by throw strange, meaningful looks at him, he feels these looks - they stare directly at him - these faces are deathly pale in the evening light - he is trying to go into his thoughts, but he cannot - a feeling of emptiness in his head - he tries to look somewhere up, at a window in the distance - and again passers-by embark on his path - he trembles from head to toe, all in sweat ” [2] . In contrast to the “Spring on Karl Johan Street” ( 1890 ) performed in the impressionist manner, “Evening on Karl Johan Street” is characterized by a gloomy, anxious mood. Compositionally, the picture is close to such works by Munch as “ Scream ” and “ Girls on the Bridge ”, which also show the artist’s favorite motive for a road disappearing in the future and some focus shift to the edge of the canvas.
Munch also created lithography based on this work. The original painting adorns the Rasmus Meyer Municipal Assembly in Bergen .
Notes
- ↑ Arne Eggum: Die Bedeutung von Munchs zwei Aufenthalten in Frankreich 1891 und 1892 . In: Sabine Schulze (Hrsg.): Munch in Frankreich . Schirn-Kunsthalle Frankfurt in Zusammenarbeit mit dem Musée d'Orsay, Paris und dem Munch Museet, Oslo. Hatje, Stuttgart 1992, ISBN 3-7757-0381-0 , S. 146, 150.
- ↑ Cit. by: Ulrich Bischoff. Edward Munch TASCHEN / Art Spring, 2008. ISBN 978-5-88896-141-4 .