Get closer to Munch
Edvard Munch, Norway’s most famous artist, spent most of his life in voluntary isolation. The people who shared his everyday life were the ones who worked for him, such as his housekeepers. The original painting and the lithographic stone displayed here show Ingeborg Kaurin, a young girl who modelled for Munch from 1911 until 1915. She also travelled with him to his properties, cooked food, waited on his guests and fed the animals. Some of the most intimate and sensuous pictures Munch ever made were of Ingeborg.
We do not know if the artist and his help had any physical contact – this would have been considered inappropriate at the time. But what does it mean to get close to someone? In sharing our everyday rituals, we form a closeness and a bond – even if we have to keep apart.
Discover some of Edvard Munch’s most iconic paintings at Munch in Oslo
Ingeborg Kaurin. 1911 - 12. Oil on canvas.
Idyllic Scene. 1912. Lithographic stone.