Shop art print and framed art The Storm by Edvard Munch

The Tempest (in Norwegian Stormen) is a painting by the Norwegian painter Edvard Munch. Painted in 1893 in Åsgårdstrand (Oslofjord), it was inspired by a real storm that occurred in the region during the summer. In the reddish-blue twilight of a Nordic summer night, a strong storm causes the trees to lean to the left. The house in the background is lit from the inside, the yellow colour partly scraped away to increase the luminosity. On the beach, in the foreground, is a group of women dressed in dresses of different colours"; their bodies are only sketched. Slightly left of centre, a lone woman in a white dress stands out from the group and walks towards the mole. They all have their hands over their ears to weather the storm". According to Ulrich Bischoff, in The Tempest Munch uses naturalistic elements to create a dramatic description of nature that becomes an inner landscape. Externally, he contrasts the safe, well-lit house that the women have left with the powerful forces of nature in the dark night. The women's gesture is not just protection against the storm, it is also an expression of inner tension. Figuratively speaking, it symbolises the state of a society that, as in Henrik Ibsen's dramas, is stretched to the limit and threatens to explode. Ann Temkin, a curator at the MoMA, highlights the contrast between the closed group of five or six women and the isolated figure further to the right. She sees in this Munch's feeling of being, as an artist, outside society. [...]

 

This artwork is a painting from the modern period. It belongs to the expressionism style.

 

« The Storm » is kept at Christian Mustad Collection, Oslo, Norway.

 

Find the full description of The Storm by Edvard Munch on Wikipedia.