Oil painting of a young woman smiling faintly with much of the surrounding canvas left unpainted.
Photo © President and Fellows of Harvard College
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Photo © President and Fellows of Harvard College

Oil painting of a young woman on a beige canvas. She faces towards the viewer with a slight smile. Her lips and shirt, of which only the upper portion is painted, are the same shade of red. Her dark hair is short, parted in the middle, and made of colors similar to the few strokes of paint behind the woman’s head. Pinks, yellows, and whites make up the woman’s complexion with her neck being a brighter white than her face. Much of the canvas surrounding the woman is left untouched with only “E Munch 95” painted to the center left.

Identification and Creation

Object Number
1991.215
People
Edvard Munch, Norwegian (Loiten, Norway 1863 - 1944 Ekely, Norway)
Title
Berlin Model
Other Titles
Alternate Title: Portrait Study
Classification
Paintings
Work Type
painting
Date
1895
Culture
Norwegian
Persistent Link
https://hvrd.art/o/221371

Location

Location
Level 3, Room 3500, Special Exhibitions Gallery
View this object's location on our interactive map

Physical Descriptions

Medium
Oil on canvas
Dimensions
76 x 56.6 cm (29 15/16 x 22 5/16 in.)
framed: 79.5 x 60.5 cm (31 5/16 x 23 13/16 in.)
Inscriptions and Marks
  • Signed: in oil at c.r.: E Munch 95
  • inscription: verso, upper right stretcher, graphite: 4 [encircled]
  • inscription: verso, upper left stretcher, graphite: 14 1/2
  • inscription: verso, upper left stretcher, black crayon: M
  • inscription: verso, lower left corner of stretchers, black crayon: No. 221
  • inscription: verso of frame, lower left, impressed: frame by BERNARD WALSH 37 EAST 83RD ST. / N. Y. 28, YU 8·4880
  • inscription: verso, middle of top stretcher, label, printed text: KUNSTNERFORBUNDET / 1958 KATALOG NR. [handwritten, black marker:] 15
  • label: verso, upper left stretcher: [printed:] No. [handwritten:] 1066 / Edvard Munch / Weill [?] [illegible text]
  • inscription: verso, upper left of top stretcher, blue crayon: K529
  • label: verso, upper right of top stretcher, blue border: [illegible text]
  • inscription: verso, upper side of left stretcher, graphite?: [illegible text]

Provenance

Recorded Ownership History
Theodor Woelfer, Malmö, by 1944. [1] Harry and Patricia Irgens Larsen, gift; to Busch-Reisinger Museum, 1991.

Notes
[1] Listed as owned by Woelfer in 1944 Munch exhibition.

Acquisition and Rights

Credit Line
Harvard Art Museums/Busch-Reisinger Museum, Gift of Harry and Patricia Irgens Larsen
Accession Year
1991
Object Number
1991.215
Division
European and American Art
Contact
am_europeanamerican@harvard.edu
Permissions

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Publication History

  • Edvard Munch: Minnesutställning i Nationalmuseum och Göteborgs Konstmuseum, exh. cat. (Stockholm, 1944), p. 8, cat. no. 9 [as "Poträttstudie"]
  • James Cuno, ed., A Decade of Collecting: Recent Acquisitions by the Harvard University Art Museums, Harvard University Art Museums (Cambridge, Mass., Spring 2000), p. 105, ill. (color)
  • Peter Nisbet and Joseph Koerner, The Busch-Reisinger Museum, Harvard University Art Museums, ed. Peter Nisbet, Harvard University Art Museums and Scala Publishers Ltd. (Cambridge, MA and London, England, 2007), p. 200
  • Gerd Woll, Edvard Munch: Complete Paintings, Thames & Hudson (London, 2009), vol. 1, no. 370, repr., p. 1662
  • Martina Nommsen, Edvard Munch: Alpha und Omega, Geist & Wissen bei Ludwig (Kiel, 2021), pp. 156-158, repr. p. 158 as Abb. 74

Exhibition History

  • Edvard Munch, 1863-1944, Nationalmuseum, 02/01/1944 - 02/28/1944; Göteborgs Konstmuseum, 02/01/1944 - 02/28/1944
  • A Decade of Collecting: Recent Acquisitions from the Busch-Reisinger Museum, Central and Northern Art and Design from 1880 to the Present, Harvard University Art Museums, Busch-Reisinger Museum, 04/19/2000 - 07/09/2000
  • 32Q: 1440 Secessionism: Munich, Vienna, Berlin (Expressionism), Harvard Art Museums, Cambridge, 03/11/2024 - 02/10/2025
  • Edvard Munch: Technically Speaking, Harvard Art Museums, Cambridge, 03/07/2025 - 07/27/2025

Verification Level

This record has been reviewed by the curatorial staff but may be incomplete. Our records are frequently revised and enhanced. For more information please contact the Division of European and American Art at am_europeanamerican@harvard.edu