Werner Timm - Edvard Munch - 1982

19 Portrait Walther Rathenau

200 x 1 0 5 cm. Oil on canvas. 1 907. Berlin, Markisches Museum

Walther Rathenau who was greatly impressed by Munch's difficult and inward-looking art became one of the painter's first patrons in Berlin. He himself was no stranger to the kind of problems the artist grappled with, and not infrequently striking parallels may be found in his writings on cultural and philosophical issues and also in his letters. He too hoped for a cultural renewal through the "spiritual forces of the soul." Rathenau, who later joined Wirth's cabinet as

foreign minister became internationally known when he signed the Treaty of Rapallo in 1 9 2 2 . Shortly thereafter he was assassinated by the forces of reaction.- In 1 907 Munch painted his full-length life­ size portrait, an authoritative likeness of consummate psychological insight. The dark upright figure is effectively contrasted with the light background . Rathenau's cosmopolitan assurance and urbane poise is brought out by his posture and his gestures. It is a character­ istic stance, firm yet relaxed, one hand in his trouser pocket, the other holding a lighted cigarette. But the serious, collected face with its domed forehead reveals the spiritual depth and strength of personality of the man behind the elegant fac;:ade.

20 Old Man in Warnemiinde

1 1 o x 8 5 cm. Oil on canvas. 1 908 . Oslo, Munch Museum

Munch spent the summer and autumn of 1 907 and again the spring and summer of 1 908 at the small North-German harbour town of Warnemi.inde. He lived in one of the little houses on the "Old River" where the local fishermen tie up their boats when they return with their catches. The period he spent there is of some importance for his artistic development. For in the pictures he painted in this pleasant environment one can detect signs that he was about to overcome a deep-seated crisis and to adopt a more positive, more optimistic at­ titude to life in general. One of the pictures he worked on was a

large triptychon representing bathing men, another (in 1 908) his "Mason and Mechanic." This choice of subject is in itself significant since it indicates a conscious new interest in the world of work. Our picture of an old man belongs into the same context. It is easy to see that he looks back on a long life of toil and hard work. We look past him into one of the small courtyards typical for the houses in old Warnemi.inde. There are two shade trees ; colourful washing hangs on a clothes line. In the background we notice a child and a bending figure. It is a picture of a modest respectable way of life

21 Men Shovelling Snow

1 5 1 x 1 28 cm. Oil on canvas. Around 1 9 1 o/ i 9 1 1 . Once in the National Gallery, Berlin (present whereabouts unknown)

Munch presented this picture to the National Gallery in Berlin in gratitude for the great one-man show which Ludwig Justi arranged for him in that city in 1 92 7 . Apart from isolated instances Munch had not shown much interest in painting men at work before he went back to Norway in 1 909 and lived quietly in the country. There­ after large-scale figures of workers, craftsmen and fishermen fre-

quently occupied the centre of his canvases. He even planned a Frieze of Work as a counterpart to his "Frieze of Life." It is highly significant for this new attitude that when he designed the paintings for Oslo Town Hall he included in the scheme pictures of the work­ ers that built it. This group of labourers clearing a road was prob­ ably painted in Kragero. In the foreground we see two men, one bending down, the other in the act of straightening up with a full shovel. Their dark silhouettes stand out in vivid contrast against a snowbound landscape. It is a straightforward picture of simple manual work, free of over-emphasis or exaggeration ; yet it is not a genre picture, but a beautiful, concise representation of men working.

22 The Sun

4 5 2 x 7 8 8 cm. Oil on canvas. 1 909- 1 9 1 1 . Oslo, Aula of the University

The Commission to decorate the Great Hall of Oslo University with huge wall paintings which Munch had won against stiff competi­ tion was an enormous task that occupied him intensely for a number of years . O riginally the centre-piece was to represent the "Man­ Mountain" (Menschenberg) , an idea inspired by Nietzsche. It was to show mankind's eternal struggle towards the light, a struggle in which a few only will reach their goal, climbing upwards over an ever rising mountain of their brethren who fell by the wayside. Later however Munch replaced this pessimistic symbolism with a more positive image, a magnificent affirmation of live. He painted the sun

in all its glory, sending forth life-giving rays over sea and land . The panorama of a fjord landscape of sea and rocky cliffs fulfils Munch's intention that "the decorations should form a consistent and inte­ grated world of ideas to be expressed in pictures which at one and the same time are typically Norwegian and completely universal. " He achieved this aim in the whole series-especially perhaps in the two outstanding paintings called "History" and "Alma Mater" (Research) . Munch himself has drawn attention to a steady develop­ ment in his art from very early works such as "Spring" which deal with the fate of the individual to the universal concepts of his Uni­ versity pictures : "A straight line runs from my 'Spring' to the Aula paintings : These represent the striving of mankind towards the light, towards the sun and enlightenment and towards light in -dark times . 'Spring' was the longing of one who was dying for light and warmth, for life."

The

Man-Mountain (with

self-portrait as Sphinx) . 3oo x 420 cm. Oil on canvas. Around

1 9 2 5 - 1 9 2 7 . Oslo, Munch Museum