Mother and Daughter

It is summer and two women are outdoors in an open landscape. The colour contrasts, the differences in the women's postures, directions of gaze, and disposition, and the atmospheric setting all invite symbolic interpretation. The picture can be read as a representation of different stages of life. Munch's pictorial universe contains many examples of different female archetypes in juxtaposition. Together, they constitute a kind of typology of women. Good examples include Kvinnen i tre stadier (The Woman in Three Stages) (1894, Woll M 362) and The Dance of Life (Nasjonalmuseet, NG.M.00941). In terms of its monumentality, treatment of figures in a simplified landscape, and melancholy mood, Mother and Daughter is also comparable to works such as Inger på stranden(Inger on the Beach) (1889, Woll M 182), Sommeraften(Summer Evening) (1889, Woll M 183), Moonlight(1893, Nasjonalmuseet, NG.M.01914), and Separation(1896, Woll M 393). But with regard to theme, it is one of Munch's woodcuts, Two Women on the Shorefrom 1898 (Nasjonalmuseet, NG.K&H.A.19098), that bears the closest resemblance to the painting, which probably also served as model for the graphic work. By and large, Munch based his print works on earlier paintings, rather than the other way around. The woodcut exaggerates the difference in age between the older and the younger woman (Flaatten 2013, 112), using an idiom that is notable for its stylisation. In the painting, the passage to the right is sketchy, with just a few shapes indicated in brown. One of these appears to be the outline of a rock on which the older woman is sitting. In the woodcut, the rock is clearly defined.

Mother and Daughter is often discussed in relation to melancholy, most recently in the exhibition "Edvard Munch. Archetypes" at the Museo Thyssen-Bornemisza in Madrid (2015). In the accompanying catalogue, the picture is compared with Aftenstund(Evening) (1888, Woll M 163), which is regarded as the starting point for the melancholy theme in Munch's art. X-ray analysis has shown that in its original form, Aftenstund included a standing, front-facing female figure, in a composition that clearly links it to that of Mother and Daughter(Alcaró 2015, 23).

The somewhat stylised treatment of figures and landscape in Mother and Daughterenhances the impression of the women's individual solitude and isolation. The monumentality of the work is striking. In his major book about Munch from 1933, Jens Thiis alludes to the classical quality of the picture's composition. Although he criticises the figures as schematic and rigid, it is precisely this formality that he finds interesting. For him there is something "thoroughly classical, almost Egyptian" about the picture (Thiis 1933, 230).

In the National Gallery's 1927 Munch exhibition, the painting was listed with the date "1897?", an attribution that has been accepted ever since. It is assumed that the picture was shown at Den Frie Udstilling in Copenhagen in 1898, where it was listed as cat. 126 and went by the title of Sommernatt(Summer Night). By that point it already belonged to Olaf Schou (Skedsmo 1987, 113). Later commentators have noted similarities to Munch's monumental works from 1899, and the fact that in 1897 he concentrated largely on printmaking, leading to speculation that it might have been some other picture with the title Sommernatt that was shown in Copenhagen in 1898 (Høifødt 2003).

Mother and Daughter was probably painted at Åsgårdstrand. Both this inference and the dating of 1897 are backed up by a letter Munch wrote to Aunt Karen on 19 March 1898. In this he refers to a painting he intends to show in Copenhagen in the spring: "I have been invited to exhibit a few things at Den Frie Udstilling in Copenhagen (...) I will probably include, among other things, you and Inger from the summer and the big picture of Inger -- thus Inger will be on show in two versions --" (emunch.no: MM N 828). The painting was gifted to the National Gallery by Olaf Schou in 1909.

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

• Hansen, Vibeke Waallann, et al. Edvard Munch i Nasjonalmuseet: en samlet oversikt. Redigert av Ustvedt, Øystein, et al. Oslo: Nasjonalmuseet, 2022. kat.nr. 35.
• Coppel, Stephen. «Munch and the theatre in Paris», i «Edvard Munch. Love and Angst», utstillingskatalog, 2019. 109.
• Flaatten, Hans-Martin Frydenberg. Edvard Munch. Måneskinn i Åsgårdstrand - Edvard Munchs sjelelandskap, scener, stemmer og stemninger i en småby ved sjøen. Oslo: Sem og Stenersen, 2013. 112, 157.
• Stokkan, Torill, et al. Tante Karen: kvinnen bak Edvard Munch. Oslo: Orfeus, 2013. 137.
• Rognerud, Hilde M. J. Munch! — Nietzsche, Thiel och Nordens störste konstnär. Utstillingskatalog. Stockholm: Thielska galleriet, 2013. 48.
• Bischoff, Ulrich. Edvard Munch 1863-1944: Images of Life and Death. Köln: Taschen, 2011. 68.
• Høifødt, Frank. Kunsten, kvinnen og en ladd revolver. Edvard Munch anno 1900. Oslo: Press, 2010. 81–3.
• Ustvedt, Øystein. «Historien om et mesterverk», i «Edvard Munch. Det syke barn. Historien om om et mesterverk», 2009. 44.
• Junillon, Ingrid. Edvard Munch face à Henrik Ibsen: impressions d’un lecteur. Leuven: Peeters, 2009. 246, 293.
• Woll, Gerd. Edvard Munch: Samlede malerier: B. 1: 1880-1897. Oslo: Cappelen Damm, 2008. kat.nr. 404.
• Høifødt, Frank. «Edvard Munch - Stil und Tema um 1900 = Edvard Munch - style and theme around the year 1900», i «Edvard Munch. Thema und Variation = Edvard Munch. Theme and variation», utstillingskatalog, 2003. 58.
• Bischoff, Ulrich. Edvard Munch. 1864-1944. Köln: Benedict Taschen, 1993. 68.
• Nasjonalgalleriet, red. Norske malerier. Katalog. Oslo, 1992. 342.
• Skedsmo, Tone. «Nasjonalgalleriets Munch-samling. En historikk», i «Edvard Munch i Nasjonalgalleriet», 1989. 25.
• Nasjonalgalleriet, red. Katalog over norsk malerkunst: med 158 illustrasjoner. Oslo, 1968. kat.nr. 1287.
• Langaard, Ingrid Lindbäck. Edvard Munch. Modningsår. En studie i tidlig ekspresjonisme og symbolisme. Oslo: Gyldendal, 1960. 396.
• Nasjonalgalleriet, red. Katalog over norsk malerkunst. Oslo, 1950. kat.nr. 1070.
• Nasjonalgalleriet, red. Norsk malerkunst i Nasjonalgalleriet. Oslo, 1933. kat.nr. 956.
• Thiis, Jens. Edvard Munch og hans samtid: Slekten, livet og kunsten, geniet. Oslo: Gyldendal, 1933. 230.
• Nasjonalgalleriet, red. Edvard Munch. Utstillingskatalog. Oslo, 1927. kat.nr. 109.
• Thiis, Jens. «Edvard Munch». Norske malere og billedhuggere vol. 2, 1907. 431.