The situation is casual, the subject seemingly captured in a fleeting moment. Still in his outdoor clothes, it is as if he has just flopped down on the sofa with a glass in front of him. The portrait is painted using a rich, pastose technique that emphasises brushstroke, materiality and nuances of colour. In its composition and style, it shows Munch's preoccupation with 1880s realism.
In 1889, Hans Jæger (1854--1910) was one of Munch's closest friends. The two had been following each other's activities since 1886. Munch admired the author's radical attitude and message. Nearly ten years older than Munch, Jæger advocated the ideals of naturalism. This involved a conscientious commitment to reality, diligent self-examination and thorough honesty about one's private life. Munch was one of those who would rigorously adopt the tenet of Jæger and the Kristiania Bohemians to "write your life".
Here the subject is first and foremost the front figure of those Bohemians, Jæger himself. One of Munch's best known and most widely discussed portraits, it is generally regarded as a defining work of the 1880s. It belongs to the genre of the informal artist portrait, which became popular in this period. Otherwise, in terms of style and the treatment of the cool light flooding in through the window, it has similarities with Spring (The National Museum, NG.M.00498), painted the same year.
Until 1887 Hans Jæger was employed as a stenographer at the Storting, the Norwegian parliament. But he was better known as a writer, social critic and anarchist, and as the leading light of the so-called Kristiania Bohemians. He attracted attention and controversy for his opinions, actions and personality. The portrait was painted shortly after his second period of imprisonment for his novel *Fra Kristianiabohemen * (From the Christiania Bohemians), which was confiscated by the authorities immediately after publication in December 1885. Jæger received a sixty-day prison sentence as penalty for the book's pornographic and blasphemous content, followed by a second sentence for attempting to smuggle the novel to Sweden. The punishment was also a reaction to the book's socially critical stance and its disregard for established morality.
The painting was shown in Munch's first solo exhibition in the small hall of Studentersamfundet (the Students' Association) in Kristiania in spring 1889. It was purchased from the artist by the National Gallery's purchasing committee in autumn 1897. X-ray analysis has revealed changes in the course of work, especially in the lower right corner (Plahter 1994). The table and glass were added at a late stage, possibly after the painting had been exhibited in spring 1889. This is the only portrait of Jæger by Munch that we know of. Later, however, he produced a lithograph of the head section (1896, Woll 2001, G 84). And finally, towards the end of his life, he prepared two further lithographs based on the full tableau. These are among his last works (1943--1944, Woll 2001, G 747, G 748).
Munch's relationship to Jæger was ambivalent, but in his late correspondence he mentions him several times with great affection and respect. In connection with Jæger's terminal illness and death in January 1910, Munch wrote to his friend Jappe Nilssen: "-- Poor Hans Jæger -- He was one of the few I would have liked to see again -- He was one of the most likeable of the Bohemians -- and he wrote the best Kristiania novel as well." (21 January 1910, National Library, correspondence collection, 604, PN 732). Jæger's death may have been the starting point for several later compositions on the theme of "The Death of Bohemia" (1915--1920, Woll 2008 B, M 1166-1169). Clearly, Jæger was a major influence on Munch's development in his early years.
Øystein Ustvedt
The text was first published in Edvard Munch in the National Museum. A comprehensive overview (Oslo: National Museum, 2022).
