The Women on the Bridge  1902                                                                         

Most critics agree that the year 1902 was a pivotal year in Edvard Munch’s career. While the famous shooting incident stands out, it was his move to Germany that was crucial. Like many other Scandinavian artists, painters and writers,  the 37-year-old Munch needed to escape the conservative Nordic culture.

1902

January. Buys his first Kodak camera.

March/April.  German Secession Exhibition: Frieze of Life is shown for first time.

Spring. Germany. After his success at the Secession Exhibition and with Albert Kollmann’s promotion, Munch starts to obtain commissions from rich clients, whom he called his Mycenaeans. Eventually he writes to his Aunt Karen, “Sitting penniless in Berlin and want to get home for the fine weather.” (Sue Prideaux, Edvard Munch: Behind the Scream, 218)

Spring.  Meets Dr. Linde through Kollmann. Linde buys Fertility and offers a 4,000-marks commission for a frieze for a children’s room.

Summer.   Returns to his home in Asgardstrand and stays for the summer.1. Works on the Linde frieze. 2. During an argument with Tulla Larsen, he shoots himself, injuring his left middle finger and requiring surgery.  3. After a feud with local painter Johannes von Ditten, he exchanges blows; the incident is widely reported. 4. Albert Kollmann visits to discuss German opportunities—commissions, sales. 5. Aase Norregaard visits and is painted. 

September 24.Two days after leaving hospital (hand surgery) exhibits at Blomqvist’s gallery. 

Autumn. Meets Gustav Schiefler, who starts cataloguing Munch’s prints.

November/December. Returns to Berlin and then goes to Lübeck to stay with the Linde family.

Albert Kollman

BERLIN SECESSION

Following his developing international reputation in the last years of the 19^th century, Munch was invited to the fifth exhibition of the Berlin Secession, a group of independent German artists who championed modernist tendencies in defiance of the government-sponsored Berlin Artists Association. Munch chose 22 of his best paintings; it was the first completed collection of his Frieze of Life. Divided into four thematic sections, the paintings were installed along all four walls of the entrance hall in a continuous row above eye level. The exhibition was a success, finally consolidating Munch’s reputation in Berlin. 

Frieze of Life Paintings (List from Prideaux, 210-11)

1. Seeds of Love. The Voice, 1893; Red and White, 1894; Eye in Eye, c. 1895; The Dance on the Shore, c.1900; The Kiss, c. 1892; Madonna, 1894.

2. The Flowering and Passing of Love. Ashes, 1894; Vampire, 1893; The Dance of Life, 1899-1900; Jealousy, 1895; Sphinx, 1893-5; Melancholy, 1894-5.

3. Anxiety. Anxiety, 1894; Evening on Karl Johan, 1894; Red Virginia Creeper, 1898-1900; Golgotha, c. 1900; The Scream, 1893.

4. Death. The Deathbed Fever, 1895; Death in the Sick Room, 1893; Hearse on Potsdammer Platz, 1902; Metabolism, c 1898; Dead Mother and Child, 1893-9.

                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                Blonde and Dark-haired Nude   1902-3       

MAIN PAINTINGS BY MUNCH IN 1902

The catalogue raisonné of Munch’s complete paintings indicates that 1902 was a lean year for output. Munch was in Germany a lot, working on the secession exhibition, developing patrons and clients, and at the end of the year undertaking on Dr. Linde’s commission. Even when he was home for the summer in Asgardstrand his work was often interrupted by visitors.

There was no self-portrait in 1902, but the one he painted the following year, Self-Portrait in Hell, is surely a reflection on his life in 1902. He has painted himself naked cutting himself off at the hips. To the left he is overshadowed by an indistinct woman, clearly Tulla Larsen. As in earlier paintings her hair flows down his face and onto his right shoulder. His eyes look left towards this mass of hair. The rest of the background is a fiery red.     

Munch also painted another scene connected with Tulla: On the Operating Table. This depicts the operation on his finger following the shooting during an argument with Tulla Larsen. In the blood on the sheet beside him Tulla’s indistinct face can be seen. 

                                                                                                                                                                                                   Clothes on a Line in Asgardstrand  1902

Another notable aspect of his work in 1902 is the unusually high number of nudes. He painted at least 15. Blond and Dark-Haired Nude is the most striking. I use the word striking because the left woman’s face and eyes have impact. 

The most successful painting of 1902 is The Women on the Bridge. The main figure is Aase Norregaard. She is standing on the Asgardstrand jetty that Munch often painted.

Finally, (above) ia a painting that shows the style of Munch at this time: Clothes on a Line in Asgardstrand

                                                                                                                                                                                                            On the Operating Table   1902-3

TULLA LARSEN

The 29-year-old Tulla came into Munch’s life in 1897 when he was 33. She was the daughter of Kristiania’s leading wine merchant, and came to Asgardstrand to have her portrait painted. Initially not attracted to her, he eventually had an affair with her. But when he wanted to be rid of her, she chased him. Even when he tried to escape abroad she followed—Denmark, Berlin, Paris. She used all he guile to get him to marry her. Even telling him she was dying. She finally managed to get a commitment from him to marry. When he tried to opt out, she brought a lawsuit against him. Their relationship ended in 1902, when he struggled with Tulla over a revolver and shot himself in the hand. The trauma from this incident contributed to his need to check into a sanatorium in 1908. A year after the revolver incident, Tulla married Arne Kavli, another painter. Tulla appeared in many of Munch’s paintings, notably The Dance of Life, Metabolism andThe Death of Marat.

Max Linde

PATRONS

During his time in Germany in 1902, Munch established relationships with two wealthy German men who were keen to support him: Albert Kollmann and Max Linde. He had met Kollmann previously, but in 1902, according to Munch scholar Arne Eggum, Kollmann “practically annexed him and strove tirelessly to promote sales of his work.” (Edvard Munch, Paintings, Sketches, and Studies, 180) In the summer of 1902 Kollmann even journeyed up to marry to discuss Munch’s business affairs. Kollmann was an enigmatic figure; he was overwhelmed by Munch’s work and never wanted payment for his efforts.

The second German was Max Linde, an ophthalmologist, whom Kollmann introduced to Munch. Linde promptly commissioned a frieze for his children’s room for the princely sum of 4,000 marks. Following preparatory work on this frieze, Munch returned to Germany and went to stay with Linde at Lübeck. Linde had just bought a collection of Munch prints from Kollmann and he was preparing a pamphlet that was published as Edvard Munch und die Kunst der Zukunft (E.M. and the Art of the Future). While staying with the Linde family and working on the children’s frieze, Munch and Linde became good friends, and Munch was to sell more paintings to him.

Gustav Schiefler should also be mentioned here. A German judge, he was also a specialist in prints. In 1902 he began to catalogue Munch’s prints. He also set up a sales contract him to use.

                                                                                                                                                                                                                            Earl Kodak Camera

KODAK CAMERA

Munch bought his first camera in Germany to record the paintings he had in Germany. After finding that Cassirer’s Exhibition Rooms were not available, he had to store them in his new Berlin studio. According to Arne Eggum “It was quite likely a small Kodak camera with a roll of film containing four, six or 12 pictures of the size 9 x 9cm…. It is possible that Munch chose this type of camera to aid him in his work on commissioned  portraits.” (Munch and Photography, 95) He also began to experiment with photography, exploring visual perception and his interest in the world of spirits: “his notion that a half-world floated in the ether, a world that we intuit through our unconscious, and that we would be able physically to see with our eyes, if only our eyes were different.” (Prideaux, 255)

BLOMQVIST EXHIBITION

On September 24 the Oslo gallery Blomqvist’s opened a show of Munch’s works—two days after he left hospital after hand surgery. At first the show was sparsely attended. But then, on October 2 a letter appeared in the Aftenpostennewspaper requesting the exhibition be boycotted. This letter brought crowds of people to the gallery and gave Munch the public exposure he desired. 

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