“Summer Night. The Voice”
“Summer Night. The Voice“ is an oil on canvas painting from 1896 by the Norwegian Symbolism artist, Edvard Munch. This is the second version of this piece that Munch created. He had made the first one in 1893, several years earlier.
“Summer Night. The Voice“ was painted from memory. It was inspired by the scenery of Åsgårdstrand, a place that was home to many artists of the time, and where Munch spent his summers. The woman depicted in the painting was his Munch’s first love, a married woman named Millie Thaulow, who he met in 1885. She was an older woman and was the wife of a captain of the military when they had their affair. Their relationship was repeatedly documented in his personal journals. This painting is his recollection of her on their first night together.
This is part of a series Munch created called the Frieze of Life that dealt with the heavier emotional aspects of life, including love, life, and death. Each piece was a different emotion, and included works such as “Despair”, “Anxiety”, and his most successful piece, “The Scream”. In 1902, this series was displayed at the 1902 Berlin exhibition and was an immediate success.
Beginning in the 1890s, Munch used colors as a means to show intense mood or feeling. He was deeply inspired by the symbolism in the colors used in the works of Vincent Van Gogh and Paul Gauguin. Rather than trying to depict color and light found in the outside world like the Impressionists were doing, he wanted to use colors to highlight his internal moods and feelings.
“Summer Night. The Voice“ is currently in the collections of the Munchmuseet in Oslo, Norway. The first version from 1893 is at the Museum of Fine Arts in Boston, United States.
For more on Edvard Munch, please visit his short biography here.
You can find more artists to learn about here.
