Night in Nice

The picture was painted during Munch's first stay in Nice in 1891. Having arrived in early January, he stayed there throughout the spring. He was able to make the trip thanks to a state travel grant, which he received for the second time. In a travelogue with the title "The Queen of the Mediterranean", printed in Verdens Gang on 11 February 1891, Munch described Nice as "a city of joy, health and beauty" (emunch.no: MM UT 3). This was one of just a few texts by Munch to be published during his lifetime. While en route to Nice, Munch fell ill and was admitted to hospital in Le Havre.

As soon as he had recovered sufficiently, he continued his journey via Paris. In Nice and the surrounding area, he found subject matter for a number of paintings. He painted the Promenade des Anglais, palm trees, the beach, a boy fishing and, as in Night in Nice, rooftops.

From an elevated vantage point, we look out across the roofs towards other buildings and a blue night sky. The architecture produces a horizontal and vertical structure beneath the undulating horizon of distant mountains. The city is asleep, but in a few windows, lights still burn. The dominant blue tones give the picture its atmospheric character, prompting Jens Thiis to describe it as the "blue painting in moonlight" (Thiis 1933, 182). A recurrent feature of Munch's pictures from the 1890s, this blue-tone approach follows on from Night in Saint-Cloud(The National Museum, NG.M.01111). One contemporary source of inspiration was James McNeill Whistler.

Munch had already experimented with a high vantage point in several of the works he had painted back home in Kristiania, for example the view of Olaf Ryes plass (Woll 2008, M 90). Was he inspired in this by Kalle Løchen, a friend and fellow artist? One painting by Løchen of a view across the roofs as seen from his studio at Vika had attracted much attention. Such depictions of vistas from high windows are a good example of how artists found subject matter in their local surroundings. Munch adopts the same perspective of looking down on the city in some of his Paris pictures, such as Rue Lafayette (The National Museum, NG.M.01725) and Rue Rivoli(Woll 2008, M 233). As a way to capture life in the modern metropolis, this approach puts Munch in the company of French painters such as Claude Monet, Gustave Caillebotte and Camille Pissarro. In exploring the play of moonlight on the roofs and house façades, Munch experiments with a variety of light sources. The picture can be seen in relation to contemporary mood painting and neo-romantic currents. As such, it anticipates Munch's landscapes of the 1890s. The dominant, harmonic palette of blue tones, with hints of pink, purple, and contrasting orange, is typical in this respect. The loose, almost impressionistic treatment contrasts with the structure of more rigid vertical, horizontal and diagonal lines.

This was the first painting by Munch to be acquired for the National Gallery, which also thereby became the first public collection to incorporate an example of the artist's work. Nat i Nizza(Night in Nizza), as it was originally called, was purchased at the National Annual Autumn Exhibition in 1891. The price was set at 300 kroner, but Erik Werenskiold informed Munch that the museum had paid 200 kroner for the picture (emunch.no: MM K 1224).

Wenche Volle

The text was first published in Edvard Munch in the National Museum. A comprehensive overview (Oslo: National Museum, 2022).

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