Ragnhild Bäckström

The painting is one of several depictions of the sisters Dagny and Ragnhild Juell (Juel) that Munch produced in the years 1892--94. The simple, frontal pose with the hands folded in the lap is typical of Munch's portraits of young, contemporary women. The use of line and the colour of the dark dress contrast with the pale, undefined background. Attention is focused on the narrow eyes of the slender figure, her oval face, neck ornament and hands. She appears to be wearing a city dress with puff sleeves and a fur stole. The work is done in pastels on coarse canvas. This produces a characteristic matt surface that gives the work the appearance of something halfway between a painting and a drawing.

The portrait was done shortly after Ragnhild (1871--1908) married the Swedish geologist and politician Helge Bäckström in 1893. According to letters that passed between Ragnhild and Munch, the portrait was the idea of her husband, and was executed in Berlin in January 1894 (letter dated 3 January 1989, emunch.no: MM K 1620). The previous year, Munch had painted a similarly sized portrait of Helge Bäckström, which is now in the Thiel Gallery, Stockholm (Woll 2008, M 338). The portrait of Ragnhild was bequeathed to the National Gallery on the death of Christian Mustad in 1970.

The painting featured in several exhibitions around 1895, and it was probably during one of these that it was purchased by Karl Vilhelm Hammer, editor of the Verdens Gang newspaper. The signature was added later, probably at the request of the work's subsequent owners, Charlotte and Christian Mustad.

The Juell sisters came from the family of a doctor in Kongsvinger. Both were described as beautiful and gifted. Dagny made a name for herself as a pianist, Ragnhild as a singer. It is in these roles that they are depicted in the double-portrait Musiserende søstre (Music-making Sisters) (1892, Woll 2008, M 300). In addition, Dagny became a playwright and, together with her husband Stanisław Przybyszewski, a leading light in the Bohemian circles to which Munch belonged in the 1890s. The Bäckström couple settled in Stockholm, where they were an important contact for Munch.

It is interesting to note that when the work was exhibited at Blomqvist in 1895, Munch received a letter from Ragnhild's father, Dr Hans Lemmich Juell, asking the artist to remove the painting of his daughter from the exhibition (letter, 10 October 1895, emunch.no: MM K 1936). The doctor's reason for the request was a general scepticism towards the exhibition as a whole and towards the way Ragnhild was portrayed in particular: "For me it was downright embarrassing to see my daughter's face depicted in this manner." However, it is unclear whether he is referring to the portrait of Ragnhild or a painted version of Madonna (The National Museum, NG.M.00841), for which she may have also served as model. Munch complied with the request, but when the exhibition was later shown in Bergen, the portrait of Ragnhild Bäckström was back on the wall (Eggum 1994; Høifødt 2008).

Øystein Ustvedt

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

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