Men on the Seashore

Künstler*in Edvard Munch (1863 Løten – 1944 Skoten bei Oslo)

Object typePainting
MediumOil on canvas
Dimensions
100 × 120 cm
SignatureSign. rechts unten: E. Munch
Inventory number2060
Locations Belvedere, Upper Belvedere, 1. Floor (east), Room NO2
Summer 1907. Munch traveled to Warnemünde, a resort on the Baltic Sea, for a period of recovery. He rented a small fisherman’s house not far from the sea, where he discovered a new subject. For the first time the Norwegian artist focused his attention on the naked male body. The following year, he painted two men in a frontal pose, while the third plunges into the waves to join the rest of the group. A photo shows Munch working on a variation of the same motif. He is standing on the sandy beach, holding a palette and paintbrush, a naked model posing in the background. This version was intended for an exhibition at Kunstsalon Clematis in Hamburg, but it never left the gallery’s cellar: “Naked men are still unusual,” as the collector Gustav Schiefler wrote to Munch.