Man in the Cabbage Field

  • Artist: Edvard Munch
  • Creation date: 1916
  • Object type: Painting

On display:

About

With its lush colours and monumental grandeur, this depiction of a farmer harvesting his produce and of the fundamental needs of life has acquired central significance among the works of Munch’s later period.

After many years without a fixed abode in Europe, Munch returned to settle permanently in his native country in 1909. In 1916 he bought the rural property Ekely just outside Kristiania (Oslo), where he lived until his death in 1944. The house had a large garden that had formerly been used as an agricultural nursery. The verdant surroundings with farmers at work, horses and fields quickly spawned a series of motifs that were crucial to Munch’s work in this period.

The simple composition of this picture, its light colours and rough brushstrokes have a lot in common with Munch’s paintings for the university auditorium in Kristiania. The man is depicted face on, inscribed in a triangle of incisive visual force. His individual characteristics are toned down to the benefit of more general aspects.

The work was painted at a time when World War I was ravaging Europe (as a neutral country, Norway remained outside the conflict). It was a war that provided a powerful corrective to the 19th century zeal for industrial development, making it important to secure supplies of agricultural products. Munch’s interest in the rural way of life in these years can be seen in connection with this history. At the same time, there are similarities between Munch’s paintings of farming life and his depictions of industrial labourers, a field of interest that can be traced back to the years 1907–08.

The picture was donated to the National Gallery in 1937 by Charlotte and Christian Mustad.

Text: Øystein Ustvedt

From "Edvard Munch in the National Museum", Nasjonalmuseet 2008, ISBN 978-82-8154-035-54

Artist/producer

Edvard Munch

Visual artist, Painter, Graphic artist, Photographer, Drawing artist

Born 12.12.1863 in Løten, Hedmark, death 23.01.1944 in Oslo

Work info

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The painting of the farmer standing upright against an open agricultural landscape, his arms laden with the produce of the field, is one of the best known and most widely discussed of Munch's later works, created after he moved back to Norway in 1909. It was painted in the same year as he completed the major commission to decorate the Aula, or central hall, of the university in Kristiania (Oslo). In its simple, monumental composition, its use of bright colours and occasional pastose brushwork, the painting has much in common with the large Aula paintings.

The picture was probably one of the first Munch created after moving to Ekely, the property on the outskirts of Kristiania that he bought in the spring of 1916 (Thiis 1933; Gauguin 1933). Depictions of ordinary people at work or in everyday situations had long been a central item in his repertoire of themes. It was a focus that became more pronounced during the period he spent in Warnemünde, but it was only after his return to Norway that he began to paint straightforward scenes of farming life. Munch had begun exploring the subject matter during his stays at Hvitsten, Kragerø and Moss. But it was during the early months at Ekely that the genre became central to his art.

In essence, the picture is a monumental triangular composition. The lines of the landscape meet in the man's embrace, while his undefined face stands out in silhouette against the paler sky. The lush green tones of the foreground with its patches of blue and the predominantly red and orange tones of the middle ground indicate Munch's shift towards more vivid colours in the early 1900s. The figure and the landscape are rendered with a similar use of the brush, their forms merging with one another in a way that suggests a close connection between the farmer and the landscape. The blue clothes make the figure stand out, reinforcing the farmer's status as an everyday hero. In older traditions of European painting, blue was often used to signal holy or heroic qualities.

The work reflects the vitalist philosophy of the early 20th century, with its emphasis on the generative, life-affirming aspects of life. Fertility, germination and growth, sun, health and outdoor activities were dominant themes in much of the pioneering literature, philosophy and visual arts of the day, as well as in contemporary lifestyles. The painting has often been viewed in connection with Knut Hamsun's Nobel Prize-winning novel Growth of the Soil, which was published in 1917, the year after Munch painted the picture. In relation to Munch's earlier work, this turn towards agricultural themes can be understood as a reaction to the industrialisation, urbanisation and increased alienation that were all part of the modernisation process.

In the decades after it was painted, the work featured in most of Munch's major exhibitions around Europe. In 1943, he produced a slightly smaller version (Woll 2008, M 1788). The National Museum's version was part of the donation that Charlotte and Christian Mustad made to the National Gallery in 1937.

Øystein Ustvedt

The text was first published in Edvard Munch in the National Museum. A comprehensive overview (Oslo: National Museum, 2022).
Creation date:
1916
Other titles:
Mannen i kålåkeren (NOR)
Object type:
Materials and techniques:
Olje på lerret
Material:
Dimensions:
  • Height: 136 cm
  • Width: 180 cm
Keywords:
Classification:
Inventory no.:
NG.M.01865
Cataloguing level:
Single object
Litteratur:
  • Hansen, Vibeke Waallann, et al. Edvard Munch i Nasjonalmuseet: en samlet oversikt. Redigert av Ustvedt, Øystein, et al. Oslo: Nasjonalmuseet, 2022. kat.nr. 52.
  • Ustvedt, Øystein. Munch: En introduksjon til bildene og livet. Oslo: Stenersens forlag, 2018. 159–60.
  • Gjessing, Oda Wildhagen. «Jorn + Munch», i «Jorn + Munch», utstillingskatalog, 2016. 38, 42.
  • Stein, Mille, et al. «A contribution to the varnish history of the paintings by Edvard Munch at the National Museum and Munch Museum», i «Public paintings by Edvard Munch and his contemporaries. Change and conservation challenges», 2015. 269.
  • Clarke, Jay. «Art and Life - Munch and Biography», i «Edvard Munch and the Modern Soul», utstillingskatalog, 2014. 61.
  • Flaatten, Hans-Martin Frydenberg. Edvard Munch i Moss: kunst, krig og kapital på Jeløy 1913-1916. Oslo: Sem og Stenersen, 2014. 266.
  • Clarke, Jay. «Kunst=Liv? Munch og biografiens problem», i «Edvard Munch 1863-1944», utstillingskatalog, 2013. 58.
  • Flaatten, Hans-Martin Frydenberg. «Byen, fjorden og landskapet. Edvard Munchs søken etter stedets sjel», i «Edvard Munch 1863-1944», utstillingskatalog, 2013. 97.
  • Woll, Gerd. Edvard Munch: samlede malerier: B. 3: 1909-1920. Oslo: Cappelen Damm, 2008. kat.nr. 1195.
  • Körber, Lill-Ann. «Munch and men. Work, nation and reproduction in Edvard Munch’s later works», i «Edvard Munch. An anthology», 2006. 169.
  • Prelinger, Elizabeth, et al. After the Scream: the late paintings of Edvard Munch. Atlanta: High Museum of Art og Yale University Press, 2002. 53, 63.
  • Eggum, Arne. «Ekelyperioden i Edvard Munchs kunst 1916-1944», i «Munch og Ekely: 1916-1944», utstillingskatalog, 1998. 13, 61.
  • Pettersen, Petra. «Et innblikk i Munchs utstillingsvirksomhet og hans anseelse i Ekelyperioden», i «Munch og Ekely: 1916-1944», utstillingskatalog, 1998. 126.
  • Woll, Gerd. «Fra Aulaen til Rådhuset. Edvard Munchs utsmykningsprosjekter 1909-1930», i «Edvard Munch. Monumentale prosjekter 1909-1930», utstillingskatalog, 1993. 76.
  • Nasjonalgalleriet, red. Norske malerier. Katalog. Oslo, 1992. 345.
  • Bøe, Alf. Edvard Munch. Oslo: Aschehoug, 1992. 54.
  • Skedsmo, Tone, red. Norske mesterverker i Nasjonalgalleriet. Oslo: J. M. Stenersens forlag, 1981. 96–8.
  • Stang, Ragna. Edvard Munch: mennesket og kunstneren. Oslo: Aschehoug, 1977. 258–259.
  • Nasjonalgalleriet, red. Katalog over norsk malerkunst: med 158 illustrasjoner. Oslo, 1968. kat.nr. 1302.
  • Nasjonalgalleriet, red. Katalog over norsk malerkunst. Oslo, 1950. kat.nr. 1083.
  • Thiis, Jens. Edvard Munch og hans samtid: Slekten, livet og kunsten, geniet. Oslo: Gyldendal, 1933. 313–14.
  • Gauguin, Pola. Edvard Munch. Oslo: Aschehoug, 1933. 249–50.
Inscriptions:
Primary, Signature and dating, nede venstre: E. Munch 1916
Acquisition:
Gift from Charlotte and Christian Mustad 1937
Provenance:
[40] Previous owner, Christian Nicolai Mustad
, Charlotte Mustad
Owner and collection:
Nasjonalmuseet for kunst, arkitektur og design, The Fine Art Collections
Photo:
Børre Høstland/Lathion, Jacques

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