Evening, Melancholy I

1896

Evening, Melancholy I, 1896. Edvard Munch (Norwegian, 1863–1944). Woodcut hand colored with watercolor; image: 37.7 x 45 cm (14 13/16 x 17 11/16 in.). The Cleveland Museum of Art, Gift of Mrs. Clive Runnels in memory of Leonard C. Hanna, Jr. 1959.82 Evening, Melancholy I depicts the jilted, tormented art critic Jappe Nilssen, Munch's friend, on the shore of Åsgårdstrand, a fishing village south of Oslo. Munch chose heavily grained blocks of wood, allowing the pattern of the board to add texture to the scene, and he exploited the handmade aspect of the technique by carving blocks crudely. He also experimented so that each impression is unique, using black ink on the woodblock and watercolor and gouache to color the sheet extensively. An example of how method can reinforce meaning, the simplified shapes, flattened space, and dark hues create a visual correspondence to the figure's deep depression. This print is one of only two known impressions printed from the first state of the block before it was cut into two sections.