Add to Collection

Add this item to an existing or new collection.
Harvard Art Museums
Incorrect Username, Email, or Password
Oil painting of a diverse landscape featuring a thick forest, train smoke, mountains, and the sea.

Oil painting depicting a diverse landscape of features. A thick, green forest rests in the foreground with around four trees decipherable from the forest as a whole. Two trees have long, brown trunks while the others are discernable solely by their colors and shape. A long trail of white, puffy smoke drifts through the forest, though the train it emits from is barely visible. A sea dotted with islands rests in the background, colored varying shades of purples, blues, and pinks. The sky is similar in color to the sea with a yellow beam of light extended across the horizon.

Identification and Creation

Object Number
2023.552
People
Edvard Munch, Norwegian (Loiten, Norway 1863 - 1944 Ekely, Norway)
Title
Train Smoke
Other Titles
Alternate Title: Train Smoke - Oslofjord Northern Beach
Original Language Title: Togrøyk
Classification
Paintings
Work Type
painting
Date
1910
Culture
Norwegian
Persistent Link
https://hvrd.art/o/379780

Physical Descriptions

Medium
Oil on canvas
Dimensions
91.7 × 116.5 cm (36 1/8 × 45 7/8 in.)
Inscriptions and Marks
  • label: edge of frame, lower right: [typed:] PPD / 83
  • gallery label: back of frame, left edge, printed and typed: KUNSTHAUS ZURICH / Künstler E. Munch / Titel Eisenbahnrauch / Besitzer E. Luchsinger-Esche / Küsnacht / Katalog Nr.
  • label: back of frame, bottom edge, printed: 826
  • gallery label: back of frame, left edge, printed and typed: STOCK NO XL0L 5610 ARTIST MUNCH Edvard (1863-1944) PHOTO NO / TITLE Oslofjord - Northern Beach. Landscape with / railway, train smoke DATE 1910 / MEDIUM Oil on canvas SIZE 35 7/8 x 45 5/8 ins (91 x 116 cm) / Marlborough MARLBOROUGH FINE ART (LONDON) LTD 39 / LONDON W 1X 4BY TEL. 01-629 51
  • gallery label: back of frame, top edge, printed: Marlborough Fine Art (London) Ltd / 17/18 and 39 Old Bond Street / London W1X 4BY / Telephone: 01-629-5161 / Edvard Munch / Emil Nolde / The Relationship of their Art / July-August 1969 Cat. no. [typed:] 17.
  • stamp: back of stretcher, top edge: EDVARD MUNCH / NOV. 16 - DEC. 22, 1982 / GALLERI BELLMAN, NEW YORK / CAT NO. [black ink:] 11 / TITLE [black ink:] TRAINSMOKE, 1910
  • label: back of stretcher, lower right edge, printed: 1930 / 650
  • label: back of frame, top right edge, printed: 196
  • label: back of frame, top right edge, printed: [image of an angel] / Depot No. [stencilled:] 1145 [UBS Bank marks 1938-54]
  • label: back of stretcher, top right, inscribed, black ink: Edv. Munch No. 12156 / Landschaft mit / Eisenbahn
  • gallery label: back of stretcher, printed and typed: KUNSTHAUS ZURICH / Künstler Edvard Munch / Titel Eisenbahnrauch / Besitzer Frau Luchsinger-Esche alte Landstr. 75, Küsnacht / Katalog Nr.
  • inscription:
  • inscription: back of stretcher, left edge, red chalk: 14
  • inscription:
  • inscription: back of frame, left edge, graphite: 33 [encircled]
  • inscription: back of stretcher, top edge, graphite: HS226
  • inscription: back of frame, top edge, graphite: 6201[?]
  • inscription: back of stretcher, top edge, graphite: 513
  • inscription: back of frame, right edge, graphite: 48 [underlined]
  • inscription: back of stretcher, right edge, graphite: 14 [underlined]
  • inscription: back of stretcher, top edge, graphite: 33 [encircled]
  • inscription: back of frame, top edge, blue chalk: E.H12
  • inscription:
  • stamp: back of frame, black ink: [circular stamp including COLL(?) - 30]
  • stamp: back of stretcher, bottom edge, black ink: [circular stamp -- appears to be same as stamp just below it on back of frame]
  • stamp: back of stretcher, right edge, red ink: [circular stamp]

Provenance

Recorded Ownership History
[Kunstsalon Paul Cassirer, Berlin (1912)] sold; to Herbert Esche, Chemnitz, Germany (1912-1945) later Küssnacht, Switzerland (1946-1962); his sale [Kornfeld und Klipstein, Bern (1969)]; [Richard Feigen, New York (1969-)?]; Jerome L. Stern, New York (1969-1981); [Galleri Bellman (1982)?] sold; [through John & Paul Herring & Company, 1985]; to Philip and Lynn Straus, New York (1985-2004); Lynn Straus, New York (2004 -2023) bequest; to Busch-Reisinger Museum, 2023

Acquisition and Rights

Credit Line
Harvard Art Museums/Busch-Reisinger Museum, The Philip and Lynn Straus Collection
Accession Year
2023
Object Number
2023.552
Division
European and American Art
Contact
am_europeanamerican@harvard.edu
Permissions

The Harvard Art Museums encourage the use of images found on this website for personal, noncommercial use, including educational and scholarly purposes. To request a higher resolution file of this image, please submit an online request.

Publication History

  • W. Wartmann, Ausstellung Edvard Munch, exh. cat., Kunsthaus Zürich (Zurich, Switzerland, 1922), no. 36
  • Edvard Munch: Gemälde und Graphik, exh. cat., Kunsthalle Mannheim (Mannheim, 1926), cat. no. 37
  • Edvard Munch, exh. cat., Kirstes boktrykkeri and Nasjonalgalleriet (Oslo, Norway, 1927), cat. no. 191
  • Edvard Munch: Ausstellung in der Nationalgalerie, exh. cat., Nationalgalerie, Staatliche Museen zu Berlin (Berlin, 1927), p. 33, cat. no. 135
  • Ausstellung Edvard Munch, exh. cat., Kunstsammlungen Chemnitz (Chemnitz, 1929), p. 15, cat. no. 39, repr. p. 35
  • Edvard Munch, exh. cat., Leipziger Kunstverein (Leipzig, 1929), p. 11, cat. no. 34, repr.
  • Edvard Munch - Paul Gauguin, exh. cat., Kunsthaus Zürich (Zurich, 1932), cat. no. 14
  • Ausländische Kunst in Zürich, exh. cat., Kunsthaus Zürich (Zurich, 1943), cat. no. 361
  • W. Wartmann, Edvard Munch 1863-1944, exh. cat., Kunsthaus Zürich (Zurich, 1952), no. 48
  • Munch/Nolde: The Relationship of their Art, exh. cat., Marlborough Fine Art (London) Ltd (London, 1969), cat. no. 17, repr. frontispiece
  • Donald E. Gordon, Modern Art Exhibitions 1900-1916: Selected Catalogue Documentation, Prestel Verlag (Munich, 1974), vol. 1, pl. 1558, p. 284; vol. 2, no. 63, p. 788
  • Städtische Kunsthalle Mannheim, Edvard Munch: Sommernacht am Oslofjord, um 1900, exh. cat. (Mannheim, 1988), cat. M. 14, repr.
  • Ingrid Mössinger, Beate Ritter, and Kerstin Drechsel, Edvard Munch in Chemnitz, exh. cat., Wienand Verlag and Kunstsammlungen Chemnitz (Chemnitz, 1999), pp. 23, 151, 239 (repr.), pl. 46
  • Gerd Woll, Edvard Munch: Complete Paintings, Thames & Hudson (London, 2009), vol. 3, no. 895, repr., p. 1670

Exhibition History

  • Ausstellung Edvard Munch, Kunsthaus Zürich, Zurich, 06/18/1922 - 08/02/1922
  • Edvard Munch: Gemälde und Graphik, Kunsthalle Mannheim, 11/07/1926 - 01/09/1927
  • Edvard Munch, Nationalgalerie, Staatliche Museen zu Berlin, 03/12/1927 - 05/15/1927
  • Edvard Munch, Nasjonalgalleriet, Oslo, 06/08/1927 - 07/27/1927
  • Ausstellung Edvard Munch, Kunstsammlungen Chemnitz, 11/15/1929 - 12/10/1929
  • Edvard Munch, Leipziger Kunstverein, 12/15/1929 - 01/12/1930
  • Edvard Munch - Paul Gauguin, Kunsthaus Zürich, 02/02/1932 - 03/20/1932
  • Ausländische Kunst in Zürich, Kunsthaus Zürich
  • Edvard Munch 1863-1944, Kunsthaus Zürich, 06/22/1952 - 08/17/1952
  • Munch/Nolde: The Relationship of their Art, Marlborough Fine Art (London) Ltd, 07/01/1969 - 08/31/1969
  • Edvard Munch: Sommernacht am Oslofjord, um 1900, Städtische Kunsthalle Mannheim, 02/27/1988 - 04/17/1988
  • Edvard Munch in Chemnitz, Kunstsammlungen Chemnitz, 11/14/1999 - 02/20/2000

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