Painting

The Girls on the Bridge

Artist: Edvard Munch
Creation date: Antagelig 1901

On display: Room 060 The Collection Exhibition - Edvard Munch

About

Edvard Munch drew inspiration from the bright Nordic summer nights. In general, nature plays an essential part in Munch’s pictures. The interplay between people and the landscape forms a symbolically coherent entity.

Three girls stand on a bridge with their backs to the viewer. They are leaning against a railing, looking down into the water. The figures, landscape and building in the background are painted in a simplified manner, giving the painting a decorative effect. The girls’ brightly coloured dresses form a contrast with the pale pink, light blue and muted dark green of the landscape.

From the bridge we are looking towards Åsgårdstrand, the coastal village by the Kristiania Fjord that inspired many of Munch’s motifs during the time he spent there. In the background we can see the stately Kiøsterudgården manor, which appears in several of his paintings, along with a large, dark-green tree. The low-hanging full moon can be glimpsed on the horizon behind the tree. The railing along the bridge and the winding road draw the viewer into the landscape. This is a compositional device that we recognise from Rue Lafayette (1891) and The Scream (1893), among other works. Taking individual elements from his own pictures and placing them in new contexts is a recurring theme in Munch’s artistic practice.

The painting has had different titles and was shown for the first time at an exhibition in Kristiania in 1901 as Sommeraften (Summer Evening). It was also included in Munch’s exhibition at the Berlin Secession in 1902, under the title Norwegische Sommernacht (Norwegian Summer Night). Its monumental format, simplified renderings and use of colour evoke associations with The Dance of Life, but the substance of the two pictures is different. The thematic basis of The Dance of Life is symbolism related to love, whereas The Girls on the Bridge shows three children and features fewer narrative and action-oriented elements.

In the following years Munch’s paintings displayed his interest in depicting childhood and the child’s view of the world. In 1898 he bought a small house in Åsgårdstrand, a place that appealed to him. The purchase gave him a closer connection to the local community, which enabled him to use some of the people there as models, as here in The Girls on the Bridge. He later commented on the village: “Walking here is like walking among my paintings. I have such a desire to paint when I am walking in Åsgårdstrand.”[1] Munch painted several versions of this motif and also a variation with young women on the bridge. The painting in the collection of the National Museum is the first of these different variations.

Edvard Munch bestandskatalog
Three girls in white, red and green dresses stand on a bridge with their backs to the viewer. They are leaning against the railing and looking out to sea. The figures are depicted simply, in clean, clear colours. The view from the bridge is towards Åsgårdstrand, the coastal town on Kristianiafjord. Munch has included Kiøsterudgården, an imposing house that features in several of his paintings, the distinctive lime tree in the garden with its dome-shaped crown, and the white weather-board fences. The picture has a compelling perspective thanks to the railing that leads into the landscape. The girls are standing on the footbridge that leads out to the pier where the steamships dock. It is a bright summer night, laden with expectations of what life has to offer.

The picture marks something new in Munch's art. In terms of its monumental form, simplification, and palette, it has similarities to The Dance of Life (The National Museum, NG.M.00941). But whereas The Dance of Life concludes the symbolist love theme of the Frieze of Life, this picture is one of Munch's first depictions of children. The preoccupation with death, melancholy, eroticism, and hopeless love is replaced by an interest in childhood and the child's view of the world. Here, form and colour become important in themselves. "The picture is a marvel of composition and harmonious colour," writes Jens Thiis, who continues "... the balancing of volumes and contours, and the use of lines, straight, curved, even domed, together with the play of the horizontal and diagonal, all are masterfully welded together into a single whole" (Thiis 1933, 276).

In 1898, Munch had bought a little mariner's cottage in Åsgårdstrand, and in 1899 he travelled to Florence, where he studied the city's Renaissance paintings. Both events had an impact on his art. The purchase of the house allowed him to become involved with the local community and to forge stronger contacts with the permanent residents, some of whom served as models, as in The Girls on the Bridge. At the same time, the trip to Italy and the opportunity to update his knowledge of contemporary painted friezes prepared him to undertake some major public art commissions.

The Girls on the Bridge is one of Munch's most popular and best known works. Concerning life in the coastal town and its colours, the artist wrote: "Summer arrived -- with its intense colours -- Vivid green against vivid blue -- vivid yellow against vivid Red. The Town's brightly dressed Women came and filled it -- Backfisch filled the Streets" (emunch.no: MM.T.2759).

The picture was one of seven paintings by Munch that Olaf Schou donated to the National Gallery in 1909. Munch painted several versions of the composition (Woll 2008, M 483; M 484; M 539; M 540; M 639; M 1632; M 1715) as well as a variation with young women instead of girls (Woll M 541). The National Museum's painting is the first of the series. The dating of the picture has been debated (I. Langaard 1960, 403; Woll 2008, 522). It has been pointed out that Munch himself wrote that it was painted in Åsgårdstrand in the summer of 1901 (Høifødt 2010, 185; emunch.no: MM N 3105). It has had various titles. At its first showing, in the exhibition at Hollændergaarden, Kristiania in 1901, the title was Sommeraften (Summer Evening). It was also included in Munch's exhibition at the Berlin Secession in 1902, where the title was Norwegische Sommernacht. There also exist several print versions of the motif, for example, an intaglio from 1903 (Woll 2001, G 232), a woodcut from 1905 (Woll 2001, G 271), and a combined woodcut and lithograph from 1918 (Woll 2001, G 628; G 629).

Wenche Volle

The text was first published in Edvard Munch in the National Museum. A comprehensive overview (Oslo: National Museum, 2022).
Creation date:
Antagelig 1901
Other titles:
Pikene på broen (NOR)
Mädchen auf dem Pier (DEU)
Object type:
Painting
Materials and techniques:
Olje på lerret
Material:
Canvas
Dimensions:
Height: 136 cm
Width: 125 cm
Keywords:
Visual art
Classification:
532 - Bildende kunst
Inventory no.:
NG.M.00844
Cataloguing level:
Single object
Inscriptions:
Primary, Signature, nede venstre: E. M
Acquisition:
Gift from Olaf Schou 1909
Provenance:
[40] Previous owner, Olaf Schou
Owner and collection:
Nasjonalmuseet for kunst, arkitektur og design, The Fine Art Collections
Photo:
Høstland, Børre
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